RWBY: Storm of change
by TheBaconadian
Summary: Rated T for Language, Violence. This story is about a boy who was happy with his life for the most part and one summer his parents decided to take them on a cruise. The cruise ended in tragedy and the boy is thrust into a brand new world for who knows what and who knows why. All he knows is that he has always wanted an adventure, and this might just be what he's looking for.
1. Chapter 1: Storm of change

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of the material in this story except for the OC. Also this is my first story so please be gentle with me *wink* * wink***

Speech

 _Thoughts_

" **xxxxxxx** " Change in scene

 **Chapter 1: Storm of change**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It was July 12th 2019 when my parents decided to take me and my older brother out on a cruise across to the caribbean, since school was out, my most recent year of judo had ended and both my brother and my parents had taken two week off from work.

We had left Halifax nine days prior and we were in the open ocean. Now honestly, I love the open ocean, I also love thunder storms, just something about them that makes me feel excited in a way, call me weird. But when you put the open ocean and a thunder storm together, that can become a terrifying disaster.

"EVAN!" I call out looking despereately for my brother as the heavy wind and rain pelts my face and blow my slightly longer auburn hair back. My deep blue eyes darting around not yet having caught a glimpse of my brother or parents yet.

"MOM! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU!?" I yell out as I grip the railing on the side of the ship with both hands looking around the top deck, as thats where I was previously relaxing when the storm arrived seemingly out of no where.

A voice calls out "JESSE!" as I hear my name I spin around while still trying to hole onto the railing and see my brother approaching me slowly so he is not swept by the wind and rain "There you are little bro! I've been looking every where!"

"I'm not little! and also where's mom and dad?" I say

"Now is NOT the time to care about how virtically challanged you are." He says with a slight smirk "Mom was downstairs in the room but I have no idea where dad is!" Evan says as he winces from the rain pelting the side of his face and as that happens I yell to him

"LOOK OUT!" *SMASH* One of the deck tables nearly takes my brothers head off as I let go of the railing and pull my brother to the floor. Now unfortunately I have nothing to hold onto but my brothers sleeve as the half inch deep river of water covering the whole deck and the 30-40mph winds try to fling me across the deck of the ship.

"SHIT! Don't worry, I got you little bro!" We grab onto each others forearms as he keeps one hand on the railing and begins trying to walk forward while holding onto me, we don't make it anymore that three steps before an older man probably in his fourties is knocked off the observation deck above us "AAAAAAGH!" and as he yells he slams into my brother trying to grab him to save himself and as he does they both fling over the railing, the man tumbling into the ocean below, luckily the railing is at my stomach and I some how kept my grip on my brothers hand and forearm. He slowly starts to slip from my grasp when another pair of hands reaches over the railing grabbing my brothers free hand and says "Good catch Jesse!" I look over and see my dad helping me pull him up.

"DAD!" I exclaim before turning to my brother as he says "Less talking more pulling please!"

We finish pulling him up over the railing and take a few brief breaths before we're forced to grab onto the railing again.

"Hey pops where ya been?! Great timing by the way!" Evan says

"Never mind me, where's your mother?!" My dad says sternly looking between the two of us. we exchange glances briefly before my brother says to my dad and says "Last I checked she was in the room!"

My dad shakes his head "Thats where I came from, I was in the food court down the hall and looked in for your mom and the door was wide open!"

*CRACK* A loud bolt of lightning flashes and slams into the radio antenna at the top of the ship and we watch as it tips and breaks off hitting the observation deck and we immediately hear a yell of pain that is quickly drowned out by the sounds of the storm.

"We need to hurry inside!" My brother says as he tries to push off the railing in an attempt to reach the wall of the ship where the doors are, but before he can my dad stops him and says "No! The crew are trying to get together life rafts in case the ship starts to go under-" "WHAT?!" Evan says interupting my dad "I know the storm is bad but there's no way it's bad enough to abandon this bigass ship!" My dad looks at him with a very serious expression that he very rarely wears and it scares me when it happens because it's always dire when it does.

My dad finally speaks up after a few moments "They're saying an earthquake hit off the coast of florida... It was supposidly 8.7 and thats why the waves have been so intense, It's already flooded the bottom floor of the ship and they believe the ship is gonna sink."

Both me and my brother exclaim at the same time "WHAT THE FU-" *BOOM* *CRACK*

Another thunderous roar from the sky erupts while another flash of lighting strikes about 50 feet away from the boat and into the ocean on our side, I yelp in surprise as my brother spins to look away and says to my dad

"If thats true then what happens if there's a tsunami?!"

"Why do you think their getting the rafts genius?!" I yell at my brother with a scared yet annoyed expression.

"Thats why I need you two to get to the back of the ship where their gathering people and rafts, I'll look for your mother, she's probably looking for you two now!"

"Then I'm helping you look for mo-"

"EVAN!" My dad snaps at him angrily then quickly takes a breath and softens his expression. "Son, I need you to take care of yourself and your brother more than anything else right now. Please."

"..."

"Fine." Evan says frustrated "Just be sure you come back with mom, after all, whats pint size over here gonna do without you guys?" he says as he lets out a nervous chuckle

"Hey! fuck you." I say to him with a attempted upset expression when my dad looks to me with a exhausted look and tone to his voice "Jesse..."

"Sorry dad..."

"It's alright, go! Now!" he yells as he stands up and starts pulling himself to the front of the ship holding onto the railing.

"Alright Jes you heard the boss! Lets go!" He starts moving in the opposite direction my dad went "Alright E-Vcard-an!" I say at him with a hint of playful spite in my voice.

"Can you stop using that like it's my nickname!?" He shouts

"Only when you stop calling me short!" I shout back

"Not my fault you can't handle the cold hard truth!" He says as we make our way to the back of this god foresaken boat.

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

After a few more minutes of arguing we arrive at the aft (the rear) of the ship and notice that there's probably two dozen people gathered here four or five of which appear to have uniform outfits of navy blue with a white trim and tie's that are tight arounf their necks and drape down to their lower chests. An older man that looks to be in his early fifties and has a greying beard appears to be yelling out orders as he helps inflate a raft and turn his head around noticing us and yells for someone to take over while he slowly makes his way over to us pushing against the high winds.

He call out to us "HEY THERE! YOU BOYS ALRIGHT?!"

"YES, WE'RE FINE!" My brother shouts back before we get closer and when we do my brother says "Have you encountered a woman in her thirties my the name of Joann Vermillion?! She's our mother and we haven't seen her since the storm hit!

"No I'm sorry I haven't! We have some crew going around and rounding up as many people as we can find! I'm sure you're parents will be along shortly, now quickly, help inflate a raft and lets get you both off this soon to be wrecked ship!"

"Sir, I mean no disrespect." My brother starts hesitantly "But if this ship won't survive then how will we on rafts?!" The man looks at him for a few moments before letting out a sigh and stating "Because we have better chances on life rafter then we do on an already sinking ship." Both the brothers eyes widen at this as they recall what their father had breifly mentioned to them before about the flooded bottom floor of the ship.

"Now hurry, we don't have the time to be lollygagging!" The man says snapping the two brothers out of their confused and worried state.

As they rush up and help inflate rafts and help lower people on the rope net down to the restless ocean, " _Hell of a lot easier said than done"_ I say as we lower the last person that can fit into this raft, *CRACK* another thunderclap roars above which is quickly followed by a crash of lightning and a scream as we turn around to see a now burnt woman standing on a newly made scorch mark on the deck, she collapses, I hear screams, I go to scream but my voice is caught in my throat as I look beyond her to see a gargatuan wave making its way towards us. My brother shakes me out of my daze and yells "Snap out of it! It's time to go!" I nervously nod my head without looking away from the large, looming wave.

My brother grabs a raft and starts carrying it down as he decends the rope net with me following quickly after, a large wave slams into the side of the ship which forces my brother off the rope "AAAA-*gargle*" "EVAN!" I yell with an outstretched arm. not moments later does he resurface holding onto the side of the raft "Dont't scare me like that yo-" I'm cut off mid sentence as another wave, larger than the last, hits me while I'm not paying attention throwing me under the waves, I struggle, I choke. "BWAAAH!" *cough* *cough* I resurface about 20-25 feet away from my brother noticing he's calling for me while looking around frantically "EVAN! I'M OVER HERE!" He spins around and notices me and swims over to me pushing the raft and as we meet together and clamber into the rafts we breifly hug before another wave comes toward us, not dragging us under but almost sending us flying off the top of the raft as we grip tightly on the rope thats weaved throughout the edge of the raft.

"Well what do we do now?!" I yell to Evan as he looks towards the ship

"We wait for mom and dad. Not much else we can do!" *BOOM* Another hit of thunder and lighting can be heard as the lightning strikes the water on the opposite side of the boat, of which now has a towering, colossal wave up against it. the creaking and cracking of the ship can be heard as it is forcibly tipped towards us by the wave, our raft, lifting higher and higher along the wave we are eventually pulled into the wave by the sheer force of it. The last thing we see is people jumping and falling off the ship before our vision is blurred by the water.

After what felt like an eternity of suffocating we're launched out the other side, falling a short distance back into the ocean and as we hurridly fight the wave to back to our now toppled over raft we hold onto the ropes on it for dear life as we look over only to see the ship, upside down in the ocean and disappearing into its depths.

"...Oh my god..." Evan says as he stares in disbelief, I quickly snap him out of it by yelling at him "We're not through this yet, look out behind you!" He spins his head around to see another wave crash into them, and another, and another and another I barely reach the surface grasping for breath only to notice that the raft and my brother haven't surfaced "EVAN!? BRO, NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR SHITTY JOKES!"

...

Nothing.

"GOD DAMNIT NO-" I'm cut off by another wave and as I resurface and cough I feel and unnatural pull, I start being pulled in a wide circle and I turn to see a whirlpool has opened up and is threatening to swallow me, I desperately swim against the current flailing to no effect. " _I. Don't want to die. Everything was fine. I was happy. Why?"_ These are my final thoughts as I yell my lungs out and am pulled under by the whirlpool. Darkness quickly consumes me as my lungs fill with water " _It burns. Someone, help me, please!"_

 _..._

...

...

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 _"Everything doesn't burn anymore. Nothing hurts."_ I think to myself _"Am I dead?"_ Something soft and cold hits my face _"I didn't think the afterlife would be this cold."_ I slowly open my eyes to see a gray clouded sky with gentle snow falling down. I sit up and look where i've been and i'm partially covered in snow in a small clearing in a forest by the looks of it.

"Where... Am I?"


	2. Chapter 2: Strange new world

**Chapter 2: A strange new world**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Where... Am I?" I say to myself as I whip my head around looking for any sign of people or, even animal. oddly enough, not a sound to be heard _"Ok, thats conserning. how did I even get here? What even hap-"_ I pause for a few moments as I recall what happened before I blacked out.

"Mom... Dad... Evan... They're. Gone." As I realize this I slowly bring my hands from the cold snow beneath me up to my face and begin to sob into them. I curl up and cry more recalling the events that happened before I woke up in this strange place. That is until I'm interrupted by a loud snarling sound coming from behind me, I snap my head up and away from my arms and legs as I turn around while sat down in the snow and saw something, unsettling. A large werewolf like creature who's fur was completely black and had strange bone like protrusions along parts of its body, the most notable thing though was it's bone mask with red markings on it covering it's face and it's, terrible, evil, hungry red glowing eyes. It stood a good hundred feet away from me and as I stare in awe and terror for a brief moment it howls into the air, with that I immediately start to slowly stand up and start to back away slowly _"It's ok, just remember what boy scouts taught you. Don't turn your back to it and don't make any sudden movements, that might aggrovate it."_ I think this to myself as it begins to stalk towards me, then it start to move a little faster, then it starts to run at me, weaving between the trees _"Screw you john and your bullshit boy scout advice!"_ I think as I spin around and start sprinting away from this creature as fast as I can

I run, duck and weave through this strange place being chased by a demon wolf after having just been through a literal DEATH STORM. I vault over a fallen tree then slide under a large low hanging branch and as I dart through these seemingly endless woods I hear the crunch of snow and cracking of breaking wood behind me gaining on me _"Lucky for me these trees are relatively dense and this thing is big so it can't gain on me as fast, gotta think fast, think, think!"_ And as I'm thinking to myself I look over to my right and see a mostly frozen river

 _"Perfect! hopefully its frozen enough that I don't go under with it... Again..."_

I quickly change my course and start bolting towards the river and look over my shoulder just in time to see a monstrous claw swing just past the back of my head and see the large demon wolf like creature tuble through the snow briefly before hitting a tree. It takes a moment to regain itself before it begins it's chase once more, I turn back to face the mostly frozen river and start running across with no seeming problem. Until the claws of the creature behind me start slamming and digging into the ice, sending spidering cracks across it's surface, stopping both me and the beast in our tracks as the ice threatens to give beneath us at any given movement. I slowly look over my shoulder to see the creature no more than 20 feet from me looking down at its paws and the many cracks in the ice underneath them. It then looks up at me before it licks it toothy maw and begins to stalk towards me once more, I slowly turn to the side, not so i'm facing it but so I can quickly glance between the creature and where i'm walking. I then slowly start shuffling away from it only to hear the ice crack more and more *CRACK* the ice underneath the large wolf like creature cracks and breaks under its right clawas it gets within 10 feet of me, the ice splitting and the wolf slides into the water underneath the ice.

...

...

I breath and light sigh of relief after a few moments of watching it disappear into the water below "Damn, that was to close for comfort" a few more moments pass as I then start to shuffle in the direction I was heading in until I come to a break in the ice, it was about a 4 foot gap between myself and where the ice starts again. I crouch low and leap for the other side only to have the water below me break as a large claw extends out from it and swipes at my leg, taking a good chunk of skin and muscle with it "GAAAAH! SHIT!" I yell out as I slam down onto the ice on the other side of the opening, a flailing demon wolf in the water trying to pull itself free or take me with it, I can't tell through all the blinding pain and water flying every where I try to crawl away but it snags its claw into the clothing on my back and pulls me with it under the water and as I flail and strugle against it's grip it snaps at my head and I just barely manage to move my head to the side as it's teeth clip my ear taking a bit of flesh with it _"No! I just had to deal with drowning and I refuse to experience the same bullshit again!"_ I twist my body around shedding myself of my hoodie of which the creature had latched itself on to, then I promptly swing my legs down on to the snout of the creature and push off using it's face as a spring board, pain shoots through my left leg, the one it slashed at previously but I do my best to push through the pain as the intense adrenaline pumps through my sytem.

"Gah!" I burst out of the water and crawl up onto the freezing ice, white noise is all I hear, ice cold throughout my body is all I feel, dark fur is all I see as I flip myself onto my back to see the beast looming over me. It goes to bite down and I brace myself for yet another death. A death that luckily never came this day, a gargling whining sound is what I hear and as I strugle to open my eyes I see a woman in a white uniform with blue trim and similar color schemed over coat that goes down to her knees, black gloves and black thigh high boots. She also appears to have white hair tied into a bun at the back and a rapier in hand.

I glance past her to see the large beast slumped on the ice sliding back into the water and disolving, I try to speak "T-thank... You..." I just barely manage to get it out as the cold numbs all sensations in my body. I turn my head slightly to the side as I see three other individuals quickly approach me and the woman but that's about all I get before my vision goes dark once more.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

...

"uuuugh..." I groan as I come to conciousness _"I hurt, every where. well on the bright side I'm not cold anymore. Wait."_ I open my eyes and slowly sit up in _"A bed?"_ I groan again in slight pain as I finish sitting up and I take it my surroundings. A large twenty five by twenty five foot room with a ten foot tall, six foot wide window across from me, in front of the window and slightly to my right appears to be a large spruce desk with a couple papers on it and a chair tucked up to it and a wide dresser against the right wall. to my left appears to be a door on the left wall and a door on the wall my bed is up against, the bed itself is beautiful and luxurious by the way. An ice blue and white with silver lining designs adorn the covers of this near queen sized bed and along with the spruce wood frame to the bed it adds for beautiful contrast. I flip off the covers gently as I shift to the edge of the bed and set my feet down and wince in pain as my left foot touches the floor, now remembering what happened before I passed out from the stress and pain. "Oh yeah, someone saved me from that thing..."

"Yes and I'm glad to see your awake." A calm yet strict voice calls from the opposite end of the room and I snap my attention upwards to the door to the room and see the woman that saved me standing there holding onto the door knob with one hand and the other behind her back.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. T-thank you again by the way." I say a little sheepishly as I rub the back of my head and look towards the floor. It is only now that I notice that I'm wearing none of my previous clothing and am wearing something like pijamas only their ice blue in color and look way fancier than anything I normally wear.

"It is quite alright. You are most welcome, we were lucky to come across you when we did." she says as she begins to walk into the room towards the table in the room that I hadn't really noticed before she came in "You may not have had any lethal injuries but the mixture of the blood loss and the freezing temperatures brought you very close to deaths door. I'm glad to see our efforts weren't in vain however." she finishes as she grabs a chair from the table and turns it to face me as she sits down.

"Well it's uh. Good to know I'm in such capable hands!" I say with a light chuckle "Speaking of which. Who. Um. Changed me out of my clothes?" I say with an awkward smile.

"We had our butler Klein take care of you when we returned." she says perfectly non-chalant like.

"Ah, I see. Well thanks for that!" I say letting out a nervous chuckle and a sigh, I must've accidentaly let the mixture of relief and disappointment cross my face because I see her quizically raise an eyebrow _"Gotta change the subject!"_ I feel a bit of the heat rush to my face as I scarmble for something to say before I finally ask "S-so! uuuh, where am I exactly? And. M-may I ask what... Your n-name is?" Still feeling a little heat in my face. _"Man, puburty sucks! Doesn't help that she keeps staring me down like a sith lord trying to choke me out with the force."_

"Your in Atlas in the Schnee manor and my name is Winter Schnee, It is a pleasure to officially meet you." she says with a slight bow of her head

"I-I see. I'm Jesse Vermillion, it is a pleasure to officially meet you as well ." I exclaim trying to imitate her slight bow

"An interesting name, do you come from Vale?" she asks inquisitively

"Um, where?" I asked very confused

"..." She stares at me slightly confused before she continues "Vacuo perhaps?"

"..." I stay silent as I slowly shake my head with an even more confused look crossing my face

"I'm sorry but I have never encountered anyone who has never heard of these kingdoms. Where ARE you from?" and as she says this a very stern expression dawns her face as she stares me down

 _"well I can't exactly tell her that I just APPEARED in that forest, she'd think I'm crazy and ship me outta here! I could say I have amnesia?... Which isn't entirely inaccurate. I honestly don't know how I got here cause the last thing I remember before waking up in. Atlas? Is drowning in a thunderstorm"_ I let a few moments pass as look down at the floor in thought "... I don't know. I don't know how I got here, why I woke up in that forest or how long it had been before then... I-I just don't have any memory of it... I'm. I'm sorry." I say without looking away from the floor. After a few moments I hear a shift of wood against stone and heels click against stone, after another moment I feel a shift in the bed and I look to my right and see Winter sitting about a foot from me on the bed with a softened look on her face and a slight smile as she rests her hand on my shoulder and says "It's alright. You're more than welcome to stay here for the time being until you're all healed, in the mean time. Take a walk with me, I'll explain a few things to help you get your barrings." she removes her hand from my shoulder and gestures towards the nightstand next to the bed and there is where I notice a crutch resting against the wall between the bed and the nightstand. I grab it and stand up, or try at least. it hurts but I can bare it for the time being I hope. "Alright, ladies first." I exclaim with a slight smirk and gesture towards the door "At least you haven't forgotten your manners." she says with a nod and a slight smirk as she walks towards the door with her hands behind her back.

And so we are off for me to learn about this strange world that I've apparently been thrust into, why, I do not know. But a part of me can't help but be excited to find out.


	3. Chapter 3: Time to move forward

**Hey there! Sorry about chapter 2, I didn't realize till after I posted the chapter that the words were smaller and a lot more crammed together than chapter 1. also, bad grammar :P**

 **I promise I'll try to be better! Thank you very much again for reading my first story and I really hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 3: Time to move forward**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Winter led me through the grand halls of this equally as grand mansion, I looked about in awe and wonder at the sight of this place. After all I've never seen anything like this before in my life, and as she leads me down these halls I have the realization that I don't know how long it's been since she saved me in the forest.

"Um, excuse me miss? How long was I unconcious for? I mean. It's obviously been long enough for my leg to start healing." I say genuinely curious

"It's been approximately." she pauses for a breif moment thinking to herself "About 38 hours."

As she says this I pause and stop walking _"I don't know what I was expecting honestly, but damn! 38 hours? Well at least now I can technically say I went a day without coffee, can't get after me for it now! Ha!"_

"Are you alright?" Winter asks, snapping me out of my thought process

"Oh, yes, sorry about that. Just. Surprised is all." I say while rubbing the back of my neck and looking to the side slightly. "We can keep moving if you'd like?" I say gesturing forward and begin walking towards her. She lets me catch up to her before speaking up again while we take a right down another hallway.

"I'm sure it is, luckily I was able to unlock your aura when we found you, so you've been able to heal rather well. You probably would've been unconcious for much longer in not for that." she says in a very matter of fact tone

"Aura?" I say cocking my head to the side with genuine confusion and curiosity written all over my face. She stops and looks at me slightly wide eyed, which causes me to stop now rubbing my arm thats holding the crutch nervously.

"I haven't... Right, you said you have not been able to remember before waking up in the forest. My apologies, I was just not expecting the question." she says as she breifly closes her eyes in thought. When she re-opens them she begins walking along side me again. We walk for almost a minute is silence when a side door in the hallway opens only for me to see a girl about my age and an older man looking like he's in early thirties walk out of, at a quick glance before the door is shut, what appears to be a music room.

"Winter!" The girl shouts briskly walking towards us before she notices me and stops "Who is this?" she asks with a curious and yet trepidatious tone.

"This is the boy I mentioned that we saved from the forest. This is Jesse. Jesse, this is my younger sister Weiss." she turns to the side facing the both of us as the younger sister takes one more large stride towards me and hold out a hand.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Weiss says in a very prim and proper tone.

"The pleasures mine." I say as I take her hand and give it a gentle shake almost fearing for her delicate frame as I take a quick look up and down her. _"Damnit man! I know this puberty thing is new to you and your weird thirteen year old body but stop feeling so attracted to every pretty girl you come across!"_ I think to myself mentally slapping myself out of my thought process. We release the hand shake just as Winter speaks up once more.

"And this is Klein, the one who has been working very hard to keep up on your medical attention. There have been a couple other butlers to attend to you but Klein has been the primary observer of your care." she says with a hint of pride in her voice as she speaks of their head butler.

"Hello sir, it is good to see you awake and on your feet! I am klein Sieben and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." he says with a chipper yet well disciplined tone to his voice while approaching me and holding out a hand to greet me.

"Ah! yes, t-thank you very much for everything you've done! I'm Jesse. Jesse Vermillion." I say giving his hand a firm shake and also giving him a kind and appreciative smile. Once we let go of the hand shake Winter speaks up once more.

"Done with your piano lessons dear sister? Where might you be off to now?"

"Me and Klein are off to find my personal trainer so I can practice my sword skills more! After all, If I want to become a huntress that can lead the Schnee family I should be practicing everyday." Weiss says as her tone gets more serious throughout the statement.

"Good. Now don't let me hold you up, you have a lot of work to do if you intend on keeping true to that statement" Winter says as she breifly goes into a militant like psoture before she relaxes and rubs her sisters shoulder, to which the younger sister smiles and lightly bows her head before she starts walking off with Klein quickly in tow before he gives both me and Winter a nod " , ." he then walks off with the young heiress.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After walking for several more minutes we arrive onto what appears to be a large mostly empty balcony, save for the half a dozen small round tables lining the balcony railing, each with a pair of chairs at it and beautiful small trees growing in between each table.

Winter walks forward to one of the tables and motions for me to take a seat and I do so gladly.

"So." she starts as we sit down "What DO you know?"

I stop and think for a few moments before relaxing into the back of the chair and say "For the sake of this conversation, lets say nothing. I'm unsure about a lot of things right now." I look down at my intertwined fingers as I finish my statement.

"Very well." she starts as she proceeds to tell me all about this world, Remnant is where I am, Humans, Faunas and the creatures of Grimm are what inhabit it. Dust is the fuel that runs the four kingdoms of Vale, Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas and aura. Aura is something that apparently all things with a soul possess and with enough training and hard work, the warriors known as 'hunters' and 'huntresses' can unlock their Semblance. She tells me that every semblance is unique and that it is so rare that it is almost unheard of for two individuals to have the same semblance, unless its hereditary.

She also apparently unlocked my aura shortly after I passed out and with the help of it's ability to protect and heal the host body I should be fully healed by this time next week. Which is absolutely amazing considering the deep wound I had sustained on my left leg.

"..." I stay in a confused and stunned silence looking towards the ground while trying to process everything she's told me.

"I understand that trying to remember all these things when you are already of teenage years must be difficult, but. I'm sure it will all come back to you naturally." she says comfortingly, still under the impression that I have complete memory loss.

 _"Ok, so. Brain. Process please. Bad storm in the bermuda, sucked into whirlpool, wake up in strange forest in another WORLD! I just wanted to go to the Caribbean and enjoy some sun and drink from a shady man in an alleyway!... Well, maybe less of the second one but what ever. I'm not totally complaining though. I've always loved new, mysterious things. And from the sounds of it, if I work hard enough I get the equivilant of a super power! That's pretty ballin honestly. Evan would love... This kinda... Stuff..."_ I think to myself as I realize yet again that I might never see anyone that I previously knew ever again. Winter seems to have picked up on the change of my mood as she speaks up

"Try not to get stuck in thought. It may slow your progression, and Grimm tend to be attracted to negative emotions. Just as a note to keep in mind if you're ever out in the wilderness." she pauses as I decide to take her advice to heart and wipe the forming tears in my eyes and desperately try to think about anything else

"You should get some more rest, we've been out for a while now and I do have some business to attend to. Rest well and I look forward to your recovery." she says as she gives a light bow and begins to walk away before she stops and turns back to me slightly and says "Do you remember the way back to your room?"

"Y-yes, thank you very much." I say to her with an appreciative smile and a nod of the head. She turns back around and continues on, leaving me to myself.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After thinking to myself for almost an hour on the balcony I finally arrived back at my room closing the door behind me and I think to myself _"I need to really show my thanks to them for literally saving my life, Winters not really around right now I don't think so I'll see if I can ask her or maybe... Klein! That's what his name was. Could ask either of them if there are any major favours I can do to repay their kindness."_

I hobble over to the other door in the bedroom and open it into what appears to be a bathroom. "Ah, perfect. Exactly what I need... More water." I say allowed as I narrow my eyes for a moment before I shrug and grab some spare pj's from the dresser in the room and head back to the bathroom, close the door and plug up the tub as I fill it for a bath. I stare into the water unintentionally as my eyes start to widen and my heart beat starts to race and my breathing becomes slightly off.

I reach in and take out the plug letting the water drain _"Yeah... Maybe just showers from now on."_ I think to myself as I close the curtain and turn the shower head on and walk to the mirror as I wait for the water to heat up more. I stare at the mirror in slight confusion as I look at the familiar yet slightly different face of mine. While my face istelf was still the same, save for the small scar on the top of my right ear from where the creature that I now know as a 'Beowolf' had clipped it with his teeth. There was now a shock of white hair along the right side of my head from my right temple to just behind my right ear, mixing in slightly with the rest of my auburn hair.

"How? What?..." I pause for a few moments gently inspecting the inch wide stripe of white hair along the side of my head "Well. I guess nearly drowning twice and freezing to death all in the same twenty four hours takes it's toll on the body... The stress and shock... Right, negativity. Bad juju."

I finish observing myself in the mirror and take my rather lengthy and relaxing shower.

As I walk out of the bathroom I notice that there's a bit of food on a tray on the bedside table and as I walk over to inspect, I see a note left with the meal.

'My apologies but you were still showering when I brought you your meal. Please eat well and good evening. Should you need my services or the services of the other butlers, just press the bell icon on the scroll asked that I leave you.

~Klein'

I chuckle lightly "Thanks." I say aloud before stopping to think to myself about what I could do to be productive while I'm here.

 _"Well, while I'm here I might as well try to learn even more about this place. Maybe even. Train? As childish as it might sound I've always wanted a cool super power. And to go on crazy adventures and save people from the evil of the world. Yup. Sounds childish even in my thoughts. Eh. Fuck it."_

I pick up the 'scroll' and spend the better part of the next twenty minutes trying to figure this thing out. Doesn't exactly help that all my parents would let me have is a flip phone for the longest time.

But when I finally start to figure it out I press the bell icon that Klein mentioned, ten minutes later another butler arrives knocking on my door.

I open it to see it is unfortunately not Klein this time around, which is fair.

 _"Klein is probably already having to run around enough, oh well."_ I think as I let out a breif, small sigh.

"Hello sir, how might I be of service?" The butler asks, clearly without much interest, just wanting to get the job done.

"Hi, Um. If possible would I be able to get some books on aura and semblances? Maybe even some on fighting styles or something? Oh! And a map of the world and one of this kingdom please... Or, if you're busy you can just point me to the library." I say the last part a little sheepishly while rubbing the back of my head, now realizing I kinda started ranting a little bit about what I wanted. Whoops.

"It is quite alright sir, give me some time to search up these books to see if we have them. Then I shall be back with as many as I can." He gives a light bow as he turns and walks down the hall.

I close the door and sigh "Well. That I don't think could have been more awkward... Nope, definitely coulda been worse, coulda been pantsless! Actually, now that I say it aloud." I start as I walk back over to the bed and sit on the edge looking at the food finishing my statement in deep thought. _"It's slightly concerning that they can just walk in here at a moments notice, when ever they want. But I mean. They took the time and energy to save me, so I should be fine."_

After quickly cutting off that train of thought I take the food to the table in the room and pull up one of the four chair and finish eating. As I had just mainly snacked a little on it while I waited for the butler to show up.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

A half hour passes before there's another knock on the door and I go over to see that the butler has managed to get me almost two dozen different books on the subjects I had mention, with a couple rolled up parchments to top it all off, all sitting neatly on a trolly.

"Here you go sir, as much material I could find on the subjects inquired." He states with a hint of pride in himself.

"T-thank you very much!" I say as I start taking armful after armful of books till the trolly is emptied.

"Very good sir, now if you would pass me that tray then I shall be on my way." I pass him the tray and say again, more to make myself feel better than anything. "Thank you again. H-have a good evening!"

He nods and then leaves me to my own devices.

"See, not so bad. Just not used to the prim and properness of the place. Is properness a word? Is now." I say to myself as I sit down and start thumbing through the various books I've been allowed to look over until I eventually tire out, falling asleep amongst the books.


	4. Chapter 4: Training under the snow

**Chapter 4: Training under the snow**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It's been about four days since I first woke up in this mansion with no idea as to where I was, what was happening, what I was gonna do. Now, I've been intently studying aura, Grimm and fighting styles and my leg has been healing at an extraordinary rate! I didn't read to much on semblances because Winter had already told me that they typically take a few years of intense practice to unlock in. And based off of what I've read, It's not exactly a predictable thing as to what kinda semblance one might posses.

I sigh as I scribble notes onto some previously blank paper that I had found in the desk in my room. The pages now littered with abstract notes on different Grimm, what they looked like and what their respective names were.

"Man. There's a lot more stuff in here than I would've thought. I feel like I'm in school again. Luckily it's in a fantasy world with super powers caus eother wise this would be bull shit." I say to myself as I turn the page in the book to a Grimm called a 'Nevermore'.

I begin to write some notes on in when there's a knock at the door.

"Coming!" I say hurridly as I put my notes in the book to mark my place then close the book. To my surprise when I open the door I see Winter is there to greet me. I haven't seen her since the first day I way here.

"Greetings." She says in a stern, yet some how, slightly pleasant tone.

"Oh! Hey Wint-... . Sorry heheh" I chuckle nervously to myself, still uncertain as to whether or not I should be formal or not.

"I haven't seen you in a while, what brings you to my little corner of the mansion?" I say genuinly curious.

"Klein tells me you've intently studying since you returned to your room after our talk?" She says raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! It's been, interesting. I've been reading up on the Grimm mostly, but i've also learned a few things about the appilcation of aura, and how to use it for different situations! I've also began reading on some of the fighting styles in some of these books." Once I stop I realize that I started a mini rant again and look away with a little bit of heat reaching my face.

"That is good to hear. Have you had a chance to apply any of these methods yet?" She asks with a hint of interest in her voice.

"Um. N-no. Not really." Which isn't entirely inacurrate. But I didn't quite feel like telling her I tried seeing if I could go super saiyan while I was alone in my room. What? What'd you want from me? I'm a mostly introverted thirteen year old, what else am I gonna do when I realize I could have super powers?

After I finish my stuttered reply she simply says back. "Then let's give you a chance to utilize these skills. See if you're capable." She finishes with a slight smirk on her face.

I stay silent for a few moments before my eyes wided and I exlaim "HUH?!"

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After a half hour of confusion and slight worry, I'm stood in the middle of a large open room holding something that resembles a long sword execpt it's made out of some kind of dull edged metal that I don't recognize.

"Uuuum, Ms... Winter, ma'am? Is this really a good idea? I mean. I was interested in learning but not so soon. My leg isn't even finished being healed." I say with a hesitant and confused tone and expression.

"Indeed, and that is why we'll be starting with the basics. Blocking." She pauses presumed to be waiting for some form of conformation from me. To which I slowly nod to confirm that i'm following.

"Good. Now. I will be launching small ice dust shards one at a time and start increasing the rate as we go. Do you know how to activate you aura in a defensive manner?" She asks

"I believe so, I've practiced a little bit but it requires a lot of concentration..." I answer back a little dejectedly

"Very good, you shall learn more as we go. After all, nothing helps you learn faster than experience." As she finishes my eyes widen in vague concern.

"Wait, wha-" I'm cut off by her drawing her rapier causing a glyph to appear in front of her and a single small ice shard launches from it, soars into the air, then proceeds to launch down towards me.

I bring the practice blade up to interpose it between me and the shard using the flat end to help block against the projectile. I hear a loud *TWANG* as the ice shatters against the blade.

"You must keep your eyes up and on your enemy at all times! You should not obstruct your view if it is unnecessary. You must always be watching your surroundings for threats." She shouts this sternly making me straighten in posture.

"Y-yes ma'am!" I say as I start going over some of the fighting styles and fighting stances I read about in a couple of those books. I lower my stance slightly, keeping my left foot a bit more forward, and my practice word in front of me, the end pointed upward at a 45 degree angle.

"Good." Winter exlaims as she swings her rapier in front of her in a horizontal line making three glyphs, each one firing a few seconds after one another. I concentrate hard in an attempt to ensure that my aura is activated as I do a horizontal slash at the first ice shard destroying it, the second one I block by bringing the flat end in front of me, this time vertically so I can see where the third shard is going. The third one is to close to block, I push off with my left foot, spinning to right, feeling the shards clip the edge of my shirt as it glides past.

I stop my spin to look for the shard as I see it fly into the air coming back towards me and I spin my blade around for a vertical slash, destroying the last shard.

I let go of the breath that I didn't know I was holding as I turn around to reposition myself only to see that Winter has already summoned another six glyphs.

"W-wait! Hold on a sec-" I'm interupted by them all firing off in succession.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After nearly an hour of this dodging and blocking ice shards, at some point becoming fireballs being launched at me, I lay sprawled out on the floor panting heavily.

"I. *pant* Am so. *pant* Tired. *pant*" I exclaim squinting while I look towards the ceiling, noticing that there's a beautiful, large skylight looking up into the clearing sky. The clouds disipating more and more as it get closer to night fall.

"How is your leg feeling?" Winter asks inquisitively as she approaches me.

"Surprisingly." I pause as I let out a few more deep breaths "Not to bad. Hurts. But barely noticable." I finish as I place one hand on my chest "My lungs on the other hand. Hurt like I took the biggest drag. Of a cigarette and inhaled all the smoke." I say as I close my eyes as my heavy breathing subsides slightly.

I open my eyes to see Winter walk up next to me with a slight smirk, she cocks an eyebrow as she asks "And how do you know what that's like?"

"My dad. Told me about the first time. He ever smoked. Basically what happened, heheh" I chuckle lightly in rememberance of the story. Then quickly shifting my mind to the training we just had, then the pain in my lungs, trying to avoid dwelling on the fact that I may never see my dad again.

Winter calmly nods her head a couple times before saying "I see, I was worried for a moment that you had done that yourself."

"Nah. Not my cup'o tea. Not completely opposed to drinking. But that's probably the german in me thats talking." Only after I finish do I realize that she probably has no idea what a 'German' is. I panic slightly as I look to her for a reaction.

Just as she takes a moment to think, she's about to say something when the large doors to the sparring hall open. And while still laying down I tilt my head backwards to look and see Weiss and Klein walk in with another woman who I do not recognize. But she is wearing leather armor and has a rapier at her side.

"Oh! Winter, I didn't know that you would be here." She pauses, probably realizing that i'm there "What are you two doing here?" she asks as she cocks her head to the side sounding genuinly curious.

"I was seeing how competant of a fighter our new guest is. Not terrible. Still needs much practice. Klein, would you be able to organize a new regime for our young friend here? Perhaps a few sparring sessions later on with my sister?" She asks.

"Why yes I believe that would not be a problem." He says relatively cheerily.

I sit up and look to Winter and ask "Why?"

She looks to me and raises an eyebrow.

"Why're you so willing to help me? Don't get me wrong I appreciate everything you've done. And thank you, again. But I don't get it." I say now looking away, down to the floor.

"Because everyone is at risk from the grimm. It is true that Atlas is probably the safest of the kingdoms due to the northern terrain and our military prowess. However. I imagine you would like to find a way home at some point. And that would not be and easy journey. Especially if you did not know how to defend yourself. Does that answer your question?" She states in a matter of fact tone.

I look back up to her in slight surprise "I-I see. Thank you very much. I. Would like to repay you however. I feel like you've done a lot more for me than I deserve and I feel that I need to pay you back some how." I say as I look to Winter with a serious expression.

She pauses and put a hand to her chin in thought for a few moments before she speaks up "Then I would like to ask you to help expidite my sisters training. And perhaps you could help work as a part-time butler under Kleins supervision. Would that suffice?"

The first to speak up is Weiss as she yells accross the hall "WHAT?!"

Winter speaks up "Sister, please. Calm down. Your training has been going decent as far as I'm concerned. I wish for you to do much better than 'decent', It would not hurt to expidite your progress and your chances for further success. Having a sparring partner would help in this process greatly."

"But he's a stranger!" Weiss exlaims. And I'm inclined to agree to with her to an extent.

"I'm sorry to judge your desicion but she is right. I've only been here, four, five ish days if you include when I was unconcious. This seems a tad odd to me as well..." I finish now looking towards the ground in timid confusion.

"I have explained my reasons to both of you already, and I do not wish to play babysitter. So, unless you wish to kick and injured young man out into the wild, with nothing to protect him but the books he's read, sister. And you wish to just leave with no way to protect yourself, Jesse, then by all means. We do not have the spare time and resources to transport you across the entire kingdom, at this point in time. The grimm have been getting higher in number close to the borders and outlying villages. Any OTHER, objections?" She emphazises ad she finishes, looking between the two of us very casually, like she didn't just totally shut down any thought proccess either of us had. We both take a moment and nod to Winter before she talks once more.

"Good." She nods and continues as she turns her head to me "You will begin your training and your temperary service as a secondary butler, when you've finished healing. I expect good results from the two of you." She pauses as she looks toward the entrance once again "Now, I do have some business to attend to soon, so I will be off. Sister." Her expression softens "Train well." She then proceeds to leave us all in dumbfounded shock.

"T-thank you Winter. Good luck with your work!" Weiss exclaims as she gives a bow of the head as her sister disappears down the hallway.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Winter's P.O.V**

As she walks down the hall she looks towards the floor and says quietly to herself "I wonder... If his story is like the others? I'll have to get in contact with Professor Ozpin to inquire about this." She looks back up slightly narrowing her gaze as she contemplates what might arise from this peculiar circumstance.


	5. Chapter 5: Unexpected

**Chapter 5: Unexpected**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It's been about three days since Winter had that first sparring session with me and now, I'm in a change room looking myself over in the mirror.

"Damn it. How does anyone deal with these. Cursed. Neck traps!" I exclaim in an exaggerated tone as I fiddle with the tie on my rather fancy, new suit I was given to wear. A black vest over top an ice blue, form fitting, long sleeved, under shirt. Black, dress pants with the ice blue snowflake that represents the Schnee logo on the outside of the thigh on each pant leg, all brought together by the fancy black dress shoes.

I roll up the sleeves of the undershirt about two, thirds of the way up my forearm and then look over to Klein who's on my right, finishing buttoning up is maple coloured vest and say "Klein, help, need. Please."

He turns to me before he chuckles lightly before finishing up buttoning up his own attire, now helping me with my, 'at a moments notice noose', or a 'neck tie' as their commonly reffered to.

"If we were in less of a hurry then I'd properly show you how to do this yourself! It's a good skill to have, to be able to dress nice." He says with a slight smirk, to which I reply with my own smirk as I roll my eyes.

"Look, I didn't mean to sleep in that much! I was up late last night studying the regime you made me." And as I finish and look back to Klein, who has finished with my tie and gestures for me to look into the mirror again and says

"Well I do appreciate that you took the time to go over the regime, you should know that work comes first. Especially when you've been given the task of assisting me in the care of the young !" He adds a proud posture to his statement as we look at his handiwork.

"Ok. I'll admit. Not normally one for dressing up, but DAMN, does this look good." I smooth out the wrinkles while I look at myself in the mirror, then glancing at Klein who is now looking at his scroll.

"Guess we should get going? Thank you by the way." I say as I turn to Klein.

"You are most welcome sir Jesse. And yes, it is time for the mistresses breakfast." He says as he leads me to the kitchen to take the food to the 'young heiress'.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After breakfast we tidied up her room a bit before she started making requests, of me specifically. First to go retrieve books for her studies, fair enough. Then for tea, rich people thing, I get it. Now after making my second tea run and fifth book run in the last two hours I'm apparently on my way to 'check her bedside chest for dust vials'.

"I'm really starting to think she just wants any excuse to get me as far away as possible." I say in a aggrovated tone as I stomp my way down the hall.

"Why'd Winter think this was a good idea!?" I sigh as I arrive at my destination and open the door, scanning the room until I spot the bedside chest.

"Whatever, lets just get the vials, and get back with the hope that she doesn't want to send me somewhere ELSE." I root through the chest and find a case with a couple dozen dust vials in it, some empty, some not.

I grab the case, close the chest and as I'm about to leave I notice a family portrait hanging on the wall. It appears to be Weiss, Winter, their parents and I presume their brother. They've mentiones him but i've never met him.

 _"They. All look, so disinterested. Like they didn't even want to be there for the portrait."_ I think to myself. It didn't take me long to notice that none of them are smiling. And Weiss. _"She looks genuinely sad..."_

I think to myself for a few more moments before I summon up my resolve, adding a much more serious expression to my face.

 _"I think I understand, at least to an extent why Klein feels the way he does now."_ I begin to walk back, closing the door behind me, now feeling determined to help best I can "I have no right to be upset when I see something like that. Alright. Time to step up my game." I say to myself before picking up my pace.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Fwah!" I flop down onto my bed, vest unbuttoned and tie loose around my neck.

"I wan't expecting day one to be so much running around." I let out a complacent sigh as the soft bed swallows me further into its surface.

I open my eyes and flip onto my back and think for a few minutes before I glance over to the desk, making note on the papers with the regime Klein gave me still sitting on top of everything.

...

"Alright. Now that I've attended the young heiress. Time to get shredded." I say to myself as I spring up off the bed as I proceed to get changed into something more suited for training.

A form fitting red t-shirt with matching 'underarmor equivilant' workout pants that extend to the ankles, and a pair of ice blue knee length shorts over top of them. I look myself over in the mirror breifly before saying

"Not bad. Not what I was expecting, but it feels pretty free despite how tight the shirt and under pants are." I nod to my mirror self before heading out to the sparring chamber.

 _"According to the itinerarry Klein made me, I'm just starting with sparring against Atlesian combat trainers for the first week. They go up to difficulty 10? 'Start with a difficulty no higher than 2 for the first few weeks ~Klein'"_ I go over the note in my head before I say "Pfft. I'm sure difficulty 5 should be fine after the first week now that I have aura. Granted, still requires major concentration. But I goooot it. Probably. Maybe. We'll see."

Now, arriving at the sparring chamber doors after turning down three wrong hallways, I push open the large door and close them behind me.

Scanning over some of the equipment in here, I see there appears to be a few different kinds of practice weapons, as well as a dozen of those combat trainer bots. I grab the dulled metal, practice longsword I had used the first time I was in here with Winter. Walking over and inspecting the bots I turn to the least worn out one.

"You'll do!" I exlaim as I turn in on and set it to 'difficulty 1' 'stance, stand off' 'weapon, longsword'. "Lets just get a guage of what you can do before I try and step into the deep end." I then walk over to one side of the sparring platform while the bot walks to the other and goes into its set postion.

The screen that is its face starts flashing a countdown for the match to start '3... 2... 1... Begin.' And with that I dart towards the bot as it raises it's practice blade and goes in for a wide, sweeping swing once I get close enough. I duck under the blade and swipe my blade up into its torso as I pivot my front foot to gain momentum on the swing.

*CLANG* An audible sound of metal on metal as I strike the bot, It reaches up with its left fist and goes for a telegraphed straight punch, I side step to the right, bringing my blade around and swing it down and connect it with the shoulder.

I then take a couple large strides back as I glance up at the aura monitor and notice that the bot is already almost below the aura's 'safty margin'. Or for it, it's 'health, safty margin'.

I look back to the bot noticing that it's charging at me raising its blade and swinging it towards me in a wide sweep, I immediately lunge forward stabbing the point end of the practice blade into it's chest for another satisfying clang of metal.

It doesn't even finish it's swing of the blade before it freezes in place, it's face monitor powering down.

I let out a satisfied sigh "Not bad but I think that was still to easy. Lets try four this time."

I reset the bot, then setting it to 'difficulty, 4' 'stance, aggressive' 'weapon, longsword'. I re-engage the bot with the new settings, us returning to our positions on the sparring platform.

'3... 2... 1... Begin.' I take a step forward about to dash forward, only to stop when I see the bot charge me, I bring my blade up as it slashes at me from my left, I just barely manage to interpose my blade, not expecting the vast difference in its attack speed.

"Woah!" I exclaim as it brings its blade back around to my other side, then above, trying to crack me in the ribs and head, I manage to block both with little time to react. I jump backwards to give myself some space. I gain about one second of time to react before the bot bolts for me again.

I stab my blade forward as the bot parry's my blade and slams it's head into mine.

"Gah!" I yelp in pain, before i jump back again then jumping froward as the bot attempts to chase, I shoulder check it's torso and swing my blade for it's left side. It takes it's free arm interposing it between the blade and it's head, while still taking damage it manages to avoid the potential critical it could've taken.

It stabs towards me with its blade numerous times, I parry most but a couple of the stabs glide along the sides of my torso and face, just barely knicking me.

"Damn it! Would. You. Back off!" I yell as I duck under the blade and dart around to the back of the combat droid, only for the back of it's fist to spin and connect with the side of my head while I'm mid swing.

I then spin around underneath it's blade as it swings it around to where I was, to which, I then connect the blade with it's knee, knocking it down to one knee. I take this opportunity to go around to it's other side, away from the blade and swing for the back of it's head only for it to duck out of the way and lunge at me, headbutting my stomach.

I let out a grunt of pain as I slide backwards a couple feet before I go down to one knee and clutch my stomach. _"uuugh, this would be so much easier if I didn't have to remember to concentrate on aura the whole time, I forgot it for that headbutt. Shit, I think it cracked a ri-"_ My train of thought is cut off by a practice blade narrowly missing the top of my head by a literal tuft of hair.

After ducking out of the way I sweep the leg I had hit before and knock the bot off balance, then darting backwards to gain a good ten feet of distance before I close my eyes and focus, re-engaging my aura.

I look up towards the aura display screen as the droid gets up from the ground. The 'red zone' on an aura gauge is about at the 30% mark. When it gets below that mark the combat simulation ends. The combat droid appears to be at 81%, while I seem to be sitting at a rather uncomfortable 49%.

I turn my head back to face the bot and say "Alright taint smeer, lets try this little awkward tango again shall we?" I then lower my stance, putting my left foot back and bringing my blade in front, in a defensive position.

The bot charges for me, going to swing from my left to right before it slows and gives a hard push off with its front foot, sending it almost flying at me for the last few feet, I however was ready to jump back, having most of my weight in my front foot. I jump back, the blade swings wide, I dart forward again swinging my blade for it's torso and manage to get a loud ringing crack out of the hit, only to cough out all my air at once, feeling it's elbow that had connected with my side at the same time I had hit it.

I grit through the pain and shove it back, now doing swings of my practice blade back and forth, keeping my right foot forward and left foot back while advancing on this pain in my ass, and, for the first time, putting it on the defensive.

My strikes are being made at a rate that surprises even me, the bot attempts to go aggressive as it darts forward, swinging a wide haymaker with it's free hand, I respond by ducking under it and jabbing with the end of my blade at where it's heart would be.

'Combat training unit aura: 70% ... Jesse aura: 45%'

I pull my blade back after the hit, as it swings it's own down over it's head, attemptively down onto mine, I interpose my blade, blocking it's weapon. I then side step to my left, letting it's blade continue with the force it had on it, I spin, connecting the blade with it's shoulder blade and stop my spin, going back into my defensive stance.

The bot attempts a spartan kick, to which I block with my blade sending me sliding a couple feet. It approaches me, swingning its blade from my right to left, I quickly duck under the sword, but unfortunately it's fist quickly followed and cracked me across the face. *WACK*

A little blood fly's from my mouth and as I whip my head back to face the bot, now with a little bit of anger shown on my face, I swing my blade at it's torso. Just as it moves it's blade to block, I let go of the blade, rushing the bot, gripping it's left arm with my right and it's neck with my left, I reach around with my foot and sweep it's left foot. Pushing down on it's neck and head as hard as I can, slamming the bot into the floor with a resounding metal against stone *BANG* I quickly follow up with a curb stomp on it's head. As I attepmt to pull my foot away and back up, It grabs my leg pulling it out from under me, my back hitting the hard floor.

"Ack!" I yelp out an exclamaition of pain as I hit the floor, the bot standing up and looming over me with it's blade raised. "... Good fido." I say to it with a hint of worry and jest in my voice just before it swings it's blade down and I roll out of the way, clambering to my feet fast as I can.

'Combat training unit aura: 61% ... Jesse aura: 38%'

 _"I can't keep going like this, I need to be able to hit harder, deal more damage. I'll survive another three or four hits at the very best before my auras below 30%."_ I side step a swing of it's blade and duck under another haymaker it throws at me as I try to think and stratagize. _"Ok, think. In one of the books on aura I read that it was possible to focus aura to an area of the body as a reinforced sheild or to even be able to deal a bigger hit. Although the book said a technique like that requires lots of aura training. It's still worth a shot to try."_ It attempts to jab at me a couple times as I dodge to the left and right, It then swings it's blade over my head as I duck and jump backwards, now with it giving chase to me. _"If I can get it to the ground again, and maybe even disarm it if possible. I can attempt to focus my aura and punch it? It's not much. If anything. But it's a start!"_

I stop darting backwards from it and rush towards it, It stabs the blade forward just barely grazing my cheek, I rush in between it's legs to get my shoulder in position in it's robo taint as I grab one leg with both hands, wrenching on it and pushing my entire body upwards, sending it toppling to the side, landing head first on the floor.

I rush over, stomping on the bots forearm with one foot and gripping the guard of the practice blade in the bots hand I wrench it from it's grip, I bring the blade back around and quickly crack the bot across the face with the face like I was a batter hitting a baseball. *WACK*

After hitting it the first time, I attempt to bring the blade back around for another hit, only for the blade to be grabbed mid swing and have the bot punch me in the stomach with the other fist.

'Combat training unit aura: 46% ... Jesse aura: 34%'

As I slide back about a foot the blade leaves my grip again, with this in mind, I quickly rush the bot again before it can re-adjust it's grip to the hilt and stand back up.

I leap towards it, tackling it to the floor, pinning it's arm with the blade to the ground as I raise up my fist, focusing on the energy of my aura, altering it, changing it's flow. focusing as much as I can attempt to into my fist.

The bot attempts to swing it's fist at me and I narrowly dodge the fist and bring my own down onto it's head, I hit again, and again and again, it retaliates with a swift headbutt to my face, I respond by punching it again and as I attempt to hit again, it grabs my fist mid swing.

I now notice that it is forcing me up and off of it, my grip on it's other arm now beginning to wane.

As it slowly starts to stand with me failing to push it back, It pushes me up to my feet and swiftly gives me a hard kick to the stomach sending me sliding back a few feet.

I breifly grip my stomach before I start to charge it again only to notice that the bot's screen has just shut off and it's body has gone lax in a state of in-action.

I grind to a halt and whip my head around to look at the screen with the aura displays.

'Combat training unit aura: 34% ... Jesse aura: 29%'

"*pant*...*pant*... Alright 'Goku'... *pant*... I'll be sure to bring a straw next time... *pant*... So you can pre-emptively suck my ass!" I exclaim towards the bot still letting out exhausted breaths looking towards the ceiling now with frustration. I notice an odd feeling and freeze in place, still letting out tired breaths, I slowly and awkwardly turn around now realizing that the feeling was that of eyes watching me, I turn to see a figure I did not expect.

 _"Weiss? What's she doing here?"_ My eyes widen slightly face her rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. "So, uuuh... How much. Did you watch?"

She looks to me with a raised eyebrow "Around when you started yelling at the combat droid to, 'back off'." she says with slight smirk on her face but a hint of cringe in her voice.

"Ah... I see. Sorry abut that horrid display then, heheh." I say as I look to the ground, feeling the heat rush to my face.

"I'll say, not only were you disarmed, but your reaction attacks involved an unfortunate amount of flailing about. Not exactly what i'd call 'graceful' by any means" She says in a strict manner but a slight hint of amusement in her voice.

I grip the hair on the back of my head lightly and my smile fades. _"She's right, I didn't even win. How sad is that? Answer is 'very'. I didn't so much fight it as I seemed like I was desperately flailing like my life depended on it."_

"But I was quite impressed by your ability to fight an armed opponent without a weapon of your own. You managed to knock that combat droid to the ground a number of times, using nothing but body weight, size, and leverage to aid you!" Weiss says to me slightly impressed.

I look up to her slightly shocked. _"Is she, praising me? Man. Today's been a wack as jack day. Based on the fact she had me running around constantly earlier today, I kinda figured she didn't like me."_

"Uh, thank you!... Um. Sorry, I just didn't expect the praise." I say looking to her with a smile back on my face.

"Well, sister always says that you have to make note of all the errors as well as all of the positive points in a fight." She exclaims in a matter of fact tone.

"So, um. What're you doing here by the way?" I ask cocking my head to the side in genuine curiosity.

"I'm here to practice myself. The trainers are good and necessary if I am to progress, but I like adding in my own practice time as well. Speaking of which, I would like to get around to that sooner rather than later." She exclaims gesturing the training bot.

"Right. My apologies, I'll get out of your way, heheh." I give a light chuckles as I move the practice blade over to the rack I got it from. After going over to grab a towel and my water I start to leave until a thought occurs to me.

"Hey, umm. You're welcome to say no of course. But. Would you mind me watching your practice match? I wouldn't mind trying, and hopefully, picking up a few things." I ask as I turn to face Weiss once more.

She looks to me slightly confused before she lets out a sigh and says "I... Suppose that's alright. Just don't distract me, or there'll be hell to pay." She gives me a stern glare as she finishes her statement.

I hold up my hands in a defensive manner and shake my head slightly. "Alright, no worries. haha, I wasn't planning on it but, good to check anyways I suppose." I walk over to the side of the door and put my back against the wall as I slide to the floor and relax as I take a sip of water.

Weiss lets out another sigh as she turns to the bot. My eyes widen as I see the settings she puts the bot at 'difficulty, 10' 'stance, aggresive' 'weapon, broadsword'. The bot activates and walks over to the wrack, dropping off the longsword and claiming a large two-handed broadsword.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The battle was intense, but somehow, Weiss didn't get hit even once. Made me feel even stupider that I lost to a difficulty 4 bot. But to be fair she's been doing this a fair bit longer than I have.

After fifteen to twenty minutes of her sparring against these bots she makes her way towards me claiming a towel of her own. She wipes the seat from her brow as she takes a seat on a bench along the wide wall. I make my way over, plop myself down and hold my large bottle of water towards her. "I noticed you didn't bring your own water, It's always a good idea to hydrate before and after excercise."

She looks to me with a slightly confused look. "It's alright thank you, I can retrieve my own." She says as she goes to look away from me I say

"You know, It's not like I'm diseased. Or are you worried about 'cooties'?" I say in a playful tone, a smirk going across my face.

She turns to me quickly and exclaims loudly "I, am, not! And I know you aren't."

"Then what's the problem?" I say cocking an eyebrow whilst still smiling at her in amusement.

"..." She stays silent for a moment before her cheeks puff up in frustration and she takes the bottle, wiping the opening before taking a sip herself.

I chuckle, leaning back against the wall. "See, now was that so hard?"

She shoves the bottle back in my hands. "Shut up."

I give her an increasingly widening grin, trying desperately not to laugh. She stares at me before I break and start to laugh heartily, and strangely enough, she begins to chuckle as well.

We chuckle together for a few more moments before we quite down and begin talking back and forth, talking about what happened in the forest before Winter found me, and also about some of Weiss' family and about some of the things her and I like to do in our free time. We make our way back, talking about similar subjects for a few more minutes before parting ways halfway to my room.

"Good night Weiss. Thank you again for everything you guys have done for me." I give a light bow.

"You are most welcome. Good night to you as well, ." She says with a nod of her head in response.

"You can call me by my first name, I'm not as 'all about the formality' thing." I say giving her a gentle smile.

She looks at me with slight concern, as she is probably so used to always trying to be formal as opposed to doing the opposite. "V-Very well... Good night... Jesse." Her posture and expression seems to relax as she finishes her statement.

"Thank you." I say still giving her a gentle smile before I turn around and begin to walk to my room. "See ya tomorrow!" I exclaim as I wave while still facing forward and walking away from her.

...

 _"She's a lot sweeter than I expected..."_


	6. Chapter 6: Goodbyes

**Hey there friends! For those of you who have followed and favorited this story, I wanted to say thank you very much. And also I wanted to apologize for not uploading this next chapter sooner. Been super busy with work, and I have been writing multiple chapters in advance and have hit a bit of a writers block these last couple weeks. But now that I've been picking it up again, I've decided that now is as good a time as any to post this chapter! I'll be posting chapter 7 next Saturday and after that, I'm going to a monthly schedule for posting. I'll post 2-4 chapters on the first Friday or Saturday of every month, unless something goes horribly wrong. And I'll also be starting a new story either next month or the month after. So the 2-4 chapter postings will be a mix of chapters from this story and future stories as well. Sorry for the wait and my bullshit, hope you all have a good time! :D**

 **P.S. Sorry for any and all grammar mistakes. I'm not good at editing...**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Goodbyes**

* * *

Three weeks later.

I've gotten pretty accustomed to the routine as a secondary butler, not quite a full time job, but if I had to guess I'd say it's probably around. thirty hours a week is what i've been averaging.

And training has been going pretty well, in the evenings i've been doing light workouts with combat practice some days, and meditating with training my aura other days. I've gotten to know Klein a bit better, he's been really nice. I've also had a few more actual conversations with Weiss which has been fairly pleasant.

Today has been interesting. First, I went into the dress room for us butlers and was for the first time, given a task that didn't pertain to looking after the young heiress. Not only that but I only worked for a couple hours before Klein said that we're calling it early. Also today Winter came back for the first time over these last three weeks, and in addition. Weiss has yet to be seen today.

"Hrraah!" I yell as I slash down at the training bot, knocking it to the ground and ending the simulation. "*pant... *pant*... I haven't seen Weiss yet today. Which is odd, she's always been down here for sparring against the bots on weekends." I take another heavy breath before I drink some water. "Maybe she's just busy today?"

After saying this to myself I try contacting Klein about it, to which he just tells me to 'not worry about it'. Which does the opposite, cause I know that Klein cares very much for Weiss. Treats her like a daughter in a way. But for him of all people to be talking like this, it concerns me to a large extent.

With that in mind I head back to my room to shower and get changed.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

I walk towards the dinning hall knowing that, that's where the family should be right now considering it's about their dinner time.

As I approach the door to the dinning hall, I see a well dressed (more so than normal) Klein standing about ten feet from the dinning hall door with a sad expression on his face.

"Klein! What's going on?" I jog up to him as he looks at me, gesturing for me to be quite.

"Young sir Jesse. I did say not to worry about it I believe?" He says with a somber tone to his voice.

"Yeah, which made me worried even more, what's happening?" I say with my expression growing slightly more concerned.

He looks between me and the door, lets out a small sigh then says "They don't partake in family dinners terribly often anymore, and when they do, It's because master Jacques wishes to talk to the whole family about something. And when he asked for Winter to come, I had a feeling I knew what it was about."

"Oh. And. If you don't mind my asking, what was it about do you think?" I ask with some hesitation present in my voice.

He stays silent for a few moments before he starts. "Well, Winter has recently joined as part of the Atlas military, and because of this I belie-" He's then cut off by the large dinning hall door bursting open, only for us to see Weiss storm out of the hall, she doesn't go more than a few steps before she notices both me and Klein looking on in concern before she gives us a huff and says,

"What're you looking at?" I can certainly feel and see that most off that was directed at me, me being the newest individual here. She doesn't wait that long for a response before she starts again. "Whatever."

She then continues, stroming off down the hall rather quickly paced.

Both me and Klein look into the dinning hall to see Winter and her father yelling at each other and their mother asking for the butlers in the room to escort her out, requesting that one of them brings the bottle of wine. And Whitley. Despite it being only my third or fourth time encountering him over these last three weeks, it just being pass by's and breif hello's. This time around I see him with a smug look on his face as he eats his food, acting like there wasn't a home wrecking argument that was currently happening. _"I don't think I like you."_ I think to myself as I narrow my eyes.

Quickly after that, I notice walking out with a maid and butler following her close behind. Was Weiss' mother. And as they walk past, she gives me a passing glance as they continue on down another hall, away from where Weiss had disappeared to.

I look to Klein who looks to me and says "Sir Jesse, I will try and smooth things over in here. They don't know you nearly as well as they know me, I fear you will just make it worse. Please. Make sure the young mistress is alright?"

"R-right, I will." I say to him as I nod my head, he walks into the dinning hall, cleaning up some spilled wine as he attempts to interject in their argument only to be told off.

I turn on my heel running down the hall to find Weiss.

 _"She's probably gone to her room, that's what I'd do whenever my parents got into an arguement."_ With that thought crossing my mind, I make my way to Weiss' room.

As I near the bedroom I slow down to a jog, then to a walk. As I get up to the door I reach for the handle before I hear sobbing coming from the other side. My hand stops a couple inches from the handle.

 _"Is she. Crying?"_ I think to myself, my eyes widening at this.

I grab the door handle and twist, creeking the door open a bit to peer inside, only to have to arch my head back quickly as a pillow fly's at the door and I hear Weiss' voice.

"GO AWAY!" She yells.

I take pause for a few moments before I push the door open more and step inside the room.

"Weiss? I came to see if you were alright." I say and dodge to the side as another pillow fly's towards me.

"I said, GO. AWAY. I'm obviously not ok and don't want to deal with you right now!" She yells, trying to cover up the sniffling and light sobbing.

I look up to see her sitting on top of her bed, knee's up against her face, her hair no longer tied up in a ponytail.

"Ok, then. Let me rephrase. I'm here to help you feel better best I can. It is my job to take care of you after all." I say with a soft, gentleness in my voice.

"I-I said... I said I don't want-" She looks up at me finally and see's the very obvious worry written all over my face. She hesitates and just lowers her head again against her legs.

I gingerly walk into the room further before getting to he side of the bed, I gently sit on the bedside. "I hear venting your frustrations to a friend always helps. And I've been told I'm good at listening." I say with a slight smile on my face.

...

There's a few moments of pause, to which I silently wait. She lifts her head slightly, not so I can see her face but just enough to where her voice isn't muffled by her legs. "Friends... Do you really think that? Any 'friends' I've had either just want favours from the 'rich schnee girl', or are turned away by the fact that I'm of the Schnee family or are turned away by my father, saying that their 'just distractions'..." She says with a sad tone, a tone that sounds like what was said has been from an unfortunate amount of experience with what she has discribed.

After hearing what she has to say I look to the floor, thinking of what to say for a moment before turning back to her. "Well, that's their loss now isn't it?"

She looks up at me like I just spoke in another language that she had never heard of before. "W-what?" She exlaims.

"It's their loss." I say in a matter of fact tone while I look her in the eyes.

"Ever since I got here, I've been shown nothing but kindness, and in return. Been allowed to try and pay back that kindness. And in this I've just been learning more and more skills and have been allowed a second chance. So I think it's their loss that they didn't get to have you as a friend... You don't have to tell me whats going on now, but I just want you to know that I do consider you a friend by this point and as far as I'm concerned. Friends are always there to help each other out... So. I'm willing to listen if you ever wanna talk." I say as I look to her, she gives a nod in response and looks towards the bed for a few moments. I patiently wait and decide that she might prefer to not talk now, so I stand up and look over my shoulder at her, and just as I'm about to say something she speaks up.

"W-wait... I'm... Fine with talking now... If you don't mind?" She doesn't look away from the bed sheets while saying this.

I sit back down on the bedside, giving her another light smile and a slight nod of the head. "Shoot, I'm all ears."

She stays silent for a few more moments, sniffling, and wipping at her eyes a little before speaking up.

"It's... My father and Winter... My sister joined the Atlesian military last year and has been. Rather difficult towards father. For good reason. He hasn't excatly been hospitable ever since she decided on joining the military... It was already difficult to have proper family get togethers before... But now." She sniffles again as some more tears arrive at the corners of her eyes. "Now he's. Disowning Winter. Removing her claim as heiress to the family name as well as kicking her out of the house..."

My eyes are wide in shock and my jaw is, slightly agape in surprise at this turn of events "W-what?" I say with worry and hesitation in my voice.

"She's going to be leaving tomorrow... According to father..." She pauses to sniffle again, I watch sadly as I see a tear run down one of her cheeks again.

"She... Her and Klein have been the only ones I've had for years... Now... Now Winter is being forced to leave. And I know Klein will try and defend her. I'm. Worried that I'm going to lose both of them... I don't want to be alone again..." As she finishes her statement I watch more tears roll down her cheeks and her sobbing begins to start again.

...

 **Weiss' P.O.V**

After spilling all this information to Jesse, she felt worry. She felt sad that she was going to be left again. For who knows how long. Just so she could become 'daddy's perfect heiress to the company'... She felt _"Warmth?"_ She thought to herself as she looked and saw Jesse had taken off his shoes and now sat next to her, wrapping her in a hug. Had this been any other circumstance she probably would've called him out for being weird and have gotten him to go away... But she felt to mentally tapped out to feel or think anything aside from how warm and comforting he was trying to be.

"W-what're you doing?" She says to him in a slightly confused, but calm manner.

"I want you to know that you're not alone. Not if I have anything to say about it... I can't let you be alone. Not after that, heheh." He chuckles slightly as he looks up at her breaking the hug. Tears. Tears are welled up at the corners of his eyes as he looks at her. Yet he's still looking at her with a smile.

"I... When I woke up in that forest, I felt so alone. I didn't know what had happened or what was going on. I felt like I was trapped in a box with nothing but my own thoughts... It felt scary and so. so lonely. So, In a way. I know how you feel. To an extent." He says as he looks down at the bed away from her. "And I just... I. Wouldn't want someone who was there to help me, to be left all alone and sad. I'd just feel like an ass!" He exclaims letting out another small chuckle shortly after before looking back to her.

She felt, relieved in a way. Happy, almost. Allowing a small smile to show on her face as she looks down towards the bed. _"Why do I feel so. Content? So. Happy."_ She thinks to herself as she looks back up at him.

 _"Because, he's the first person other than Winter who has done anything even close to this for me. Klein has always tried to keep me laughing, but being our head butler. He has to be as professional as he can, as often as he can. And mother? She hasn't had any heart to heart with us after father told us he just married into the family for the name... But. He. Wants to stay and help. For nothing? I find it hard to believe. But I don't sense anything except genuine concern and kindness in his voice and expression..."_ She thinks to herself some more before she gives him an even bigger smile and nods her head to him.

"I promise to fulfil the deal I made with Winter, and take care of you and help you to the best of my abilities... Sorry. I know it's corny. But I have no other words that I can think to use..." He says as he sheepishly looks away and rubs the back of his head.

She responds by giving him a gentle hug back, Jesse flinches in surprise before returning the hug. The hug breaks and she rubs her eyes and sniffles once or twice, then looks to him "Well . I expect you to be here in the morning with Klein at 8am sharp! And I expect no excusses, am I understood?" She says with a slightly stern yet also playful tone to her voice.

Jesse responds my giving a smile and rolling his eyes while chuckling "heheh, yes ma'am." He says, giving her a nod, then standing up off the bed. He slips his shoes back on and walk towards the door before Weiss speaks up one last time before he leaves.

"Jesse?..." He stops at the door and looks over his shoulder to her

"Yeah?" He says with a gentleness to his voice.

"... Thank you... For everything..." She says trying to keep back more tears while looking at him.

"You are more than welcome. Good night." He says with a wide smile and a nod before he leaves and closes the door behind him.

Weiss looks down back to her bed, a slight smile still present on her face.

"He's, very kind..." She gently rests her head against her legs, closing her eyes, eventually nodding off to sleep.

...

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The next day.

 **Jesse's P.O.V**

It was a restless night, kept nodding on and off, with only two or three hours of total sleep. But, after all that happened I certainly felt better about everything, still concerned for Winter and Klein. But happy Weiss had heard him out and that, that whole situation turned out ok.

I yawn and stretch before getting changed and make my way to Klein, and in turn, Weiss.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After the day of work is over I close the door to my room gently and lean against it with my back to it and think to myself.

 _"So, Winters gonna be gone in..."_ I look to the clock above the bathroom door. _"... four hours... And Jacques has forbidden anyone from seeing her. Saying that 'this is the consequence for not putting the family first'... Family first my ass. He's just upset that his influence is gonna take a hit."_

I sigh breifly before going back to my dresser, then the shower. By the time I've finished I walk out with an idea and a smug look on my face.

"Hmmm. It could be risky, but it might be worth it. Eh. Evan always said that it's not breaking the rules if you don't get caught!" I say to myself with an almost devilish chuckle.

I quickly finish getting dressed and make my way to Weiss' room. Luckily I've been here long enough that I have practically memorized the majority of this mansion. Still not all, which just goes to show just how large this place is. When I arrive at her door, I casually go into a walk, looking around to see if anybody's around.

 _"Nope, coast is clear, perfect!"_ I think to myself as I quitely knock on the door and stage whisper "Weiss? It's Jesse. May I come in? I have something I wanna talk to you about."

I hear Weiss loudly whisper from the other side "Come in, the doors open."

I crack the door open and step inside, slowly closing the door behind me. Looking around, I see Weiss walking back over to her desk and sitting down at it.

I walk over, next to the desk and Weiss looks over to me. "What'd you need?" She asks.

"Winter's gonna be leaving in three and half hours." When I say this, she gets a frustrated look on her face and looks away from me.

"I'm well aware. Is there a reason you're telling me the the obvious?" She says to me in a very passive aggressive manner.

"Then I'm sure you'd like to see her off as opposed to sitting here waiting?" I ask her in a serious tone.

She looks back up to me with surprise in her face and asks "Wait. What? How? Father has forbidden us from seeing her."

I give her a sly grin and decide to get cheeky and sarcastic. "Oh, really? There a reason your telling me the obvious?"

She immediately gives me a punch to the arm and an aggravated expression. "That doesn't answer my question."

I laugh a little before I fill her in on my plan. "haha, I'm sorry... My point is. If you want to at least see your sister off, then why should you let your father stop you? I say we sneak out and see her off, I owe Winter a lot for saving my life. It doesn't feel right for things to go this way. So I say we just go and at the very least, send her off personally. I know it's not my place. But it seems to me he's doing this more for himself than for any other reason."

She pauses for a few moments, looking down at her hands, then back up to me and says "Ok. But again. How? There are guards and a small handful of other butlers that will report to father the second they see us going any where near Winter's room or the Bullhead platforms."

I think for a moment before I answer. "Klein can help us get there can't he? Out of all the butlers, he's been here the longest right? He should know a way to help get us there. Either that or we just bust through the window and B-line it." I say the last part gesturing to the window and I chuckle lightly.

"First off. No. We're not breaking through the window." She chastises me briefly before continuing. "And second. That's not a terrible idea. Klein knows this mansion better than anyone, he could probably guide us through it." She finishes with a thumb against her chin in contemplation.

"Alright! Operation 'break your fathers stupid rules by seeing Winter anyways' is a go! Operation, B.Y.F.W.A!" I say with enthusiasm.

Weiss gives me a smirk and says "What about the other words?"

I pause and then quickly turn my head to her. "They're silent. Shhh, don't ruin my gunius." I say in a loud, whispered voice with a hint of pride in it.

"You're and idiot." She says as she lightly shakes her head while standing up, still smirking.

"Yeah, well, you're the one following this 'idiots' plan. So what does that say about you?" I say to tease her while giving her a giant grin, trying to hold back my laughter.

She responds by hitting my shoulder again, this time a little harder. "Oh, shut it." She says while trying not to smile at my shenanigans.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After I left to talk with Klein we met back up with Weiss and began our stealth mission.

Klein has been casually walking forward with us sneaking at a distance behind him, he's been letting us know what he see's and whether or not it was safe for us to move forward over our scrolls.

"Is it safe yet Klein?" I ask him in a whisper over the scroll.

"Not yet. The other butlers are finishing up now." He says while standing outside Jacques office, next to the door with his hands behind his back. This is one of his 'stations' that he is supposed to be at when he's on shift but has nothing to do.

We watch as the last couple of butlers walk out of the open office with their cleaning supplies and walking off down the hall, past the room me and Weiss were hiding in. We listened for them as they walked by, gave it a minute, then as we began to open the door Klein talked to us over the scroll.

"No. Stay in the room, master jacques is coming." He says with slight worry in his voice.

Luckily the dorr hadn't made it more than half an inch open before I gently shut it again.

"Hello Klein. Why're you standing outside my office at this late hour? If you've already finished your cleanup then you are free to leave." He questions the butler.

"After recent events, I thought it best to ask you if there was anything else you would like ?" He replies with confidence.

"Ah, very good Klein. I wouldn't expect any less from you. Very well, fetch me some brandy and then you may take the rest of your evening off." Jacques says before walking into his office. We hear the door close, then we walk out of our hiding spot.

"Now just go through those big doors, it leads into the second floor foyer. From there, go to the door on the right and go down that hall to the second door on the left. Hide in there for ten minutes to let the guards begin there shift change. Then keep going down that hallway to the door at the end of it. That would be Winters room." Klein informs me with a whisper.

"Alright. Thanks Klein." I give him my thanks with a nod of my head before moving past him to the door. I look over my shoulder to see Weiss hugging Klein before he goes off to attend to the taint mongrel. I mean Weiss' dad. What? He's a dick!

We creak the door open, then closed. Almost immediately after do we start to hear foot steps coming from the stairs on our left that go down to the first floor.

"Hey, come on man! All I'm saying is that she was cute alright? No need to shoot down what little hopes I do have in this shit hole." We hear a voice echo from further down the stairs.

I look to Weiss who in turn looks to me, both of us in slight panic for what should be no reason as we still weren't anywhere near Winter's room yet, just the idea of people seeing us while we were 'sneaking around' set us off. We start frantically looking around for a spot to hide.

"Yeah and I'm saying you'll be fired best case scenario! I know the new maids hot and all, but took a liking to her, so you try it. And your ass is grass. All i'm sayin'" Another voice echo's.

I flag over Weiss as I go towards the door and when we get up to it I look over my shoulder, and I see the two guard helmets start to rise into view along the stair case. I fling the door open and start to pull Weiss with me down the hall. "Weiss, glyph!" I loudly whisper to her as I continue to pull her at a hurried pace.

She summons a black glyph that, unfortunately, does not have the capacity to quitely close doors. *SLAM* The door slams shut and the glyph remains on the handle to keep it locked.

"Ok, now lets make it to the room Klein mentioned, I can only hold that glyph for a few moments!" She exclaims to me as we begin to rush down the hallway, hearing the shaking of the door behind us.

We rush down the hall to the door that Klein informed us to enter, to wait for the shift change to start. Right as we enter the room and finish closing the door we hear the other door slam open and foot steps rushing down the hall.

"Do you think that we're close enough to Winter's room that we'd get in trouble if we're seen?" I whisper to Weiss who looks over to me and says

"Possibly. But even without that, If they catch you and me alone together in a room they might get the wrong idea. And if father finds out, well you can say good bye to your head." Weiss informs me.

"Which head?" I say in a sarcastic, joking tone with a slight grin on my face.

She looks at me confused for a brief few moments before she realizes what I meant by that joke, and starts getting red in the face before punching my arm hard.

"Oh shut up, you know what I meant!" She loudly whispers in an angry tone. I snicker to myself for a few moments before we start to hear the rushed foot steps slow down out in the hall.

"You heard that door slam shut, who ever that was has to be down here!" We hear one of the guards voices from before echo.

"You check that first door and I'll check this one." We hear the voice say. Me and Weiss look to each other in panic. We look around the room seeing that this appears to be a large game room for guests, theres a couple billiard tables as well as a bar with what look to be bathroom doors on one side and storage closet doors on the other. I drag Weiss by the arm to the closet and say

"Quickly, get in." She looks at me confused as I open the door and say this.

"Where are you going to hide?" She says, just then we hear the door knob slowly turning. I push Weiss in and leap in myself while closing the door as swiftly and quietely as I can.

Just then we hear the door creaking open slowly and the shifting of the metal armor and gun.

"Why did you come in here with me?! This is already so cramped and awkward!" Weiss says in an angry whisper. I look to her and shush her before listening closely to the door.

"Don't shush me, this is not a position I want to be in!" She says in another angered whisper. As I go to look at her and shush her once more, I realize what she means. We're practically being pressed up against each other, our faces no more than a few inches from each other.

It takes me a few seconds to push away the heat rushing to my face and compose myself before saying "So you want us to just walk out of this closet in from of the guard?" I question in the softest whisper I can muster.

"N-no. That's not what I'm saying... This is just. Uncomfortably close." She says to me while turning away. I'd swear she was turning an intense shade of red, but it's difficult to tell with it being this dark.

After a few more moments of listening for footsteps, I hear him open a door on the opposite end of the room, then creak our door open and see the one to the guest bathroom close.

"Ok, lets go, hurry." I whisper to Weiss.

After gently closing the door to the guest game room behind us, I turn around only to get a light slap on the cheek.

"Never. Speak. Of this. To anyone." Weiss says to me with frustration and embarassment in her face.

"Oh come on princess, it wasn't that bad, it could've been worse." I say while rubbing the cheek she hit.

"Oh really?! And how is that?" She asks with a huff. And just as I'm about to answer she interupts by saying "You know what? I don't want to know. Lets just keep moving." She then turns around and continues to dart down the hall, with me in tow.

After hiding in another room for a few minutes we manage to make our way to Winter's room, I attempt to open the door but find it to be locked. Weiss knocks and asks in a loud whisper

"It's Weiss, please let us in Winter." A few moments pass and we hear the lock on the other side unlock, then the door cracks open a little and we see Winter's serious expression staring out at us.

"W-we wanted to say good bye before you left... But... But father wouldn't allow us to see you..." Weiss says with a sorrowful tone as she looks away from Winter.

Her expression doesn't soften, but she opens the door more to allow us to enter. After we do she closes the door behind us and turns to face us, serious faced still.

"You went against fathers rules and came to see me anyway?" Winter raises an eyebrow as she questions us.

We both look at each other before looking towards the floor.

"We're sorry..." I say.

"We're sorry..." Weiss says.

She waits a few moments before she lightly shakes her head lightly, while softening her expression into a small smile.

"What are you two going to do without me?" She asks, mostly to herself. She then walks towards us as we lift our heads to look at her, smiles growing on our faces.

She ruffles our hair and Weiss hugs her sister, while I give a greatful bow. I look up at Winter "We're gonna miss you a lot." I tell her with a sorrowful tone.

Weiss looks up at her sister as Winter breaks the hug and takes a step back and looks at us.

"Do not worry, father may try, but he can not control what I do. I will return when I can." She says to us with confidence.

"R-really? Why defy father so much?" Weiss questions her sister.

Winter looks to her specifically now. "Because he thinks he owns us, like how one would own a pet. And now I have a new path, one where I can help the world the way I want." As she says this to her little sister she goes down to one knee, in front of her and says "I can not lead the family anymore. You, however, can. And I know you can. You've been training to become stronger, to become a huntress. To become the leader this family needs. And staying here listening to father all the time will not help further that goal."

Weiss looks to the floor again in thought. After a few moments of silence, she looks up and she says to her older sister "You're right. I will. I'll become the person, I, want to be. I'm sorry sister, you know how controlling father can be. But that doesn't mean I still wont try my best!"

"Good." Winter says before looking to me. "And you." My posture straightens instictually. "Continue to take care of my sister for me. She needs strength and support throught this. I know you wish to find your family, but for now, you are still weak, and according to your words. You still feel as though you owe us." I nod in response as I relax my posture.

"Then help my sister overcome this obsticale. Help her begin her journey to achieving her dream. Then you can consider our debt repaid. In the mean time I'll see what I can dig up, in your sted." As Winter finishes this statement, she stands up and takes a step back.

I look to her with a stern expression, one that I rarely wear. "I will. I promise."

She nods. "Good. Now hurry back before they notice you're absence from your quarters."

Both me and Weiss make our way to the door before looking back and saying goodbye, almost in unison. We then cautiously make our way out of the room, and I just barely manage to catch the sound of one last thing before the door fully closes.

"...Goodbye..." Winter says in a barely audible, sorrowful voice.

As the door finishes closing, I take pause, quickly wiping the tear forming at the corner of my eye. I notice Weiss is turned away from me, but is doing the same. We look around and see no guards in the immediate vacinity.

We then begin jogging as softly as we can down the back to our rooms.

"Why are you promising to help?" Weiss says as she turns her attention to me. "You could just leave now that you're healed."

Without looking at her I say "Because I thought I wouldn't get another chance, I thought I was dead. But I was saved, with nothing asked of me in return, I was allowed another chance. My dad always told me, if someone does you a big favor, make sure to show them your thanks, through your actions." A smile goes accross my face as I say this, reminiscing about the past... I turn my head to face Weiss. "Plus. I like you, so it's a win, win situation in my books!" I say to her in a happy and playful tone.

"Shut up you dunce..." She says as she looks away from me, blushing. I expected her to hit me for my remark. But it looks like she's _"Smiling... I like it when she's smiling."_ I think to myself as I see her trying to push away the smile as we move forward.

"I hope Winter's going to be ok... I-I hope I get to see her again..." Weiss says with a sad, near tearful expression. An idea sparks for me.

"Hey. Weiss?"

She looks towards me again as we go through the door to the second floor foyer.

"Yeah?" She questions.

"She leaves in an hour right? I think we should see her off." I say while stopping us from moving towards our rooms further.

"Why? We just got to say goodbye, why risk being caught even more?" She says to me in confusion.

"Yeah, but we may not get to see her for an absurdly long time, so I want every chance I can get to send her off memorably!"

 _"Also, because I didn't get to say a proper to my family. And I don't want that to become a recurring theme with the people I care about..."_ I think to myself, sorrowful, but determined to not let this go without makin some noise about it.

"...I. Suppose. How though? That would require us to leave the mansion, and even without this whole circumstance between father and Winter, I would not be allowed to leave without escort." She asks me with a confused expression.

"Hey, Isn't that what I'm hear for?" I say placing my hands on my hips, whislt giving her a wink.

She just rolld her eyes at me, then I continue "I don't know about you, but I'm going. I wanna see her off, my secret agent days are not yet done on this fine eve!" I say the last part in a reciting, acting like voice. I look to Weiss for a few moments. She seems to be in deep thought. I turn to walk down stairs to the main floor.

"Wait." I stop and turn my head back to her.

"I'm coming too. I. I can't stay couped up in here forever listening to my fathers rediculous demands all the time, now can I?" She says to me, her confidence growing with each word.

"Awesome. Follow me then. Call up Klein and asks if he knows a way out that doesn't involve breaking windows, or trying to find an excuse as the guards at the doors drag us to daddy dearest." I say to her with a smile as I start walking with her down the stairs as she pulls out her scroll, dialing Klein.

"Hello, Klein. Thank you again, but we may need another favor." Weiss asks. The voice on the other end barely audible.

...

"Ok."

...

"To the study?"

...

"Alright, Third case on the left, got it... Thank you Klein. I'll be sure to get some more vacation time for you from father, hehe. Bye." Weiss finishes as she ends the call.

"The study?" I give her a questioning look as I ask.

"Yes, I'll lead the way." She says to me as we then make our way too the study hall.

As we reach the main foyer and go through a couple hallways in this intricate mansion. At one point we're stopped and questioned by a guard and all it takes is Weiss to tell him, I'm escorting her to the study to learn more about 'the manifestation of aura'. Manifestation must've been a big word to the guard, plus some other words even I didn't understand, that Weiss used in her excuss, cause he froze in place for a few moments before he shook his head, and rubbed his head with his hand, then flagging us off to keep moving.

We keep going and turn one last corner, before going through one of the large double, wooden doors in this hall. Gently shutting the door behind us, Weiss waves me over as she makes her way down the stairs to the bottom of the two floors of this study. She goes up to the third of these large book cases on the left. I watch as she reaches behind some of the books on the shelf and presses something.

*Click*

The bookshelf begins to swing open slightly, revealing a passageway behind it.

"Woah... I've come into this study, I don't know how many times, and I've NEVER seen this." I say with great confusion.

"Well of course, this is supposed to be a HIDDEN, passage way. Wouldn't be very hidden if everyone knew it was here." She says in a very matter of fact tone.

"It's... So. Cool. I feel like Jason Bourne right now. All secret agent 'n shit." I say with awe and wonder in my voice.

Weiss shakes her head slightly with a smile before she stops and questions me. "Wait, who's 'Jason Bourne'?"

"Oh. Right. Story for later, right now, we see your sister off!" I say with confidence as I take a bow and gesture my arms towards the tunnel.

"Ladies first." I say to her with a smirk.

She takes a curtsey bow and then continues to lead us onward.

I quickly follow suit, slowly closing the bookcase behind us again, till I hear it click into place.

It doesn't take us anymore than a couple minutes before we reach the other end of this tunnel, a flat wall with a switch on the side wall of the tunnel. Weiss flips it and the wall pivots, the center of the wall having a metal bar on the tunnel side of it to help rotate the wall.

"That's super cool! secret, aaaagent man, secret aaaaagent man!" I start singing to myself for a few moments before Weiss stops me.

"Shh!" She says putting a finger to her lips.

"Sorry." I say to her in a hushed whisper.

With the rotating wall now shifting closed behind us I look around, taking note on our surroundings. To our left, a hallway that splits to the left, further into the house and right, out into the garden. The right hallway seems to go on for a hundred feet or so before it stops at a closed metal door.

"where does that go?" I say pointing to the metal door.

"That goes to one of the transport hangers." She tells me.

"To the garden it is then!" I say, immediately turning to the left, making my way to the garden.

As we're making our way through the lightly snow covered garden, Weiss pipes up. "Slow down, what if someone sees us?"

"Well we've been fine so far, plus, It's still snowy outside. We're almost to the end of the estate where we can see the bullhead pad. We'll be fine!" Shortly after I end my statement, we stop... Our heads slowly turn to see Weiss' mother sitting at a cleared up garden table with a butler standing a few feet away with a bottle of wine that appears to already be half empty.

She looks over to us. "Off to see Winter are we?" She says with a deadpan tone.

"W-what? Weiss, is just, uh. Showing me around the house and the garden!" I say trying to seem as serious as I can be considering how caught off guard I am.

"I see. Off exploring the house right when Winter is supposed to be leaving. Coincidences do happen I suppose." She says in a slightly sarcastic tone. Both me and Weiss look to each other briefly before looking back to her.

"A-Are you going to tell father?" Weiss inquires.

...

Almost a full minute of silence before she speaks up. "Tell him what? I didn't see anyone. I've just been out here drinking wine after saying goodbye to my eldest, of which who knows how long until I can see again." She takes another drink of her wine before she sets it down on the table. She gives us a slight smile and says,

"Hurry along children."

"Thank you mother!" Weiss says and I respond with a broad smile and a nod.

As we begin to move, her mother says one last thing. "And young man. Try to not make a habit of fibbing, It's unbecoming of someone in the Schnee family. Whether a member by blood or by service. Am I understood?" She says to me in a motherly like tone.

I smile and nod happily. "Yes ma'am!"

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After making our way to the end of the estate, we waiting for a little while until we could see Winter crossing the path to the bullhead. The bullhead platform was a floor above and well guarded so we had no way of getting up there that didn't involve being caught.

However, our 'subtle' ways of getting her attention have been unsuccessful. We've tried tossing snowballs up in the air, making glyphs to gain her attention. nothing has been working and she's almost at the bullhead.

 _"Lightbulb!"_

"Weiss, Can you launch us up there with your glyphs?" I say turning to her in anticipation.

"What?! Why would we do that? We'd be caught and you at least have an idea of what my father would do!" She says to me in a dumbfounded tone.

"... Wwwwworth it!" I yell out in exclamationed excitement. "Seriously, you're his daughter so I'm sure you'll be fine, and I'm not worried about myself. As long as you get a proper goodbye to your sister, then I'm satisfied."

"Again, we've already got to say goodbye." She says to me in a matter of fact tone.

"Yeah, but this is funner." I return the matter of fact tone, only for her to chastize me almost immediately.

"Funner isn't a word." She says with an exasperrated expression.

"The english language was meant to be butchered, now lets do this thing!" I say raising my arms up towads the sky.

She sighs before she smiles and then lights up the ground underneath her with a glyph. "Hurry up, or she'll be gone before we even get the chance!"

I hurry over to her, wrapping one arm around her so that I don't hurdling a random direction when the glyph goes off. "To infinity, and beyond!"

Weiss shakes her head, seemingly regretting her decision to get to know me. "You're so weird." She then sets off the glyph as it turns a dark black and launches us upwards, then summoning a couple to propell us to the platform itself.

"WOOOOHOOOOO!" I yell out, all heads turning to us as we now start falling towards the platform. We land, Weiss, gracefully and with a dive roll. And me. With tact, cunning, and metal grates grinding against my face as I hit the platform and go skidding across it face down, ass up. After I stop I immediately shoot up from prone.

"Thank god I remembered my aura before Ilanded! Woulda definitely had an emperor palpatine face after that!" I say mostly to myself before I turn around to look towards the bullhead. Winter is standing right at the ramp going up into it just looking at us dumbfounded.

"Hey Winter! We're here to see you off!" I say with gusto.

"But we-I-why?" She says back to me in absolute flustered confusion. And I relish this moment, cause I don't think I'll ever get to see this again!

"Hey! You guys aren't supposed to be up here!" I hear a gruff voice yell out to us from the other end of the platform and I turn around to see one of the guards quickly walking towards me and Weiss.

"Winter. Thank you for everything, and you better come back, for your sisters sake, and you better promise that you will!" I yell to Winter. And without hesitation she replies.

"I will." She says, determination evident in her voice. "But you should have known this anyways, you shouldn't have gone thro-" I cut her off by yelling out what I have to say next.

"Good! Now say that to her!" I say gesturing to Weiss. "Sometimes we need to hear it to be satisfied!"

"Alright kid, thats enough, I'm taking you both back to " The guard says, now almost upon myself and Weiss. I turn back to him and give him a smirk.

"You're gonna have to work for that paycheck bub, and we ain't leaving till their done!" I then jump at the guard, tackling him to the floor, then immediately moving my body around so that one of my legs is wrapped around his, my right arm is going underneath his left and coming up to rest under his chin, with my left hand grabbing onto my right and my torso laid across his. _"I have him pinned to the floor. So unless he's willing to punch me, I should have bought them enough time."_

Winter looks to her sister with confusion written all over it. Weiss looks to her with expectance. "W-Winter?" Weiss says, her voice cracking a little. Winter's expression softens into a smile and she says, "Yes. Of course. I promise that I'll come back as soon as I can to make sure my little sisters ok." Weiss immediately runs to her sister and gives her one last parting hug. Which unfortunately is cut slightly short by the sounds of me being pried from that one guard by another two guards.

"Goodbye my sister." Winter says and gives a nod as she picks her bag back up, then begins walking up the ramp before she stops and turns around and says, "And goodbye Jesse, try to not make a habit of these kind of stunts." She smiles as she finishes her statement. I simply turn to her with a big grin on my face as I'm pushed to the ground and held there by the guard that I pinned before. She walks the rest of the way up the ramp and it retracts and closes. The transport then taking off.

"Weiss Schnee!"

We hear a familiar, angry voice. Our heads turn to see Weiss' father standing at the doorway to the bullhead landing pad. I swear I can see a vein in his forehead about to explode. We simply stare in a brief silence before the realization sets in.

"Oh no." Weiss says.

"Oh no." I say.


	7. Chapter 7: It's never that easy

**Chapter 7: It's never that easy**

* * *

So, It's been a couple days since Winter left.

I'm not dead surprisingly. However I have been given some rather unfortunate punishments, cause I decided to take the full blame of the event. Cause, F me right?

* * *

Flashback to a couple days ago.

"I can't believe you!" Jacques Schnee. Ya know, Weiss' dear 'ol pa. Yells this at us before continuing.

"I tell you to do one thing! One! Thing! And you can't even do that! It was bad enough with your sister being corrupted by that damn Ironwood. 'It's our duty to protect the people' he says." He says in a mocking tone when quoting Ironwood. "Then he has the nerve to fill my daughters head with ideas of grandeur. 'Try and make peace with the faunus'? Hah! Their the violent animals that started all this nonsense. I will NOT have both my daughters be corrupted by these ideal's that would make our family an even bigger target for those rouge faunus, and other terrorists!"

"Sir, It's my fault. My deepest apologies. I tricked your daughter in to getting me up there with her semblance." I speak up cutting off his rant. He pauses for a moment and looks to Weiss.

"Is this true?" He asks.

"No I-"

"Yes sir." Just as Weiss begins to answer, I speak over her and look to her with a very serious expression that just silently speaks, 'shut up and roll with it'.

"...Y-Yes father. He. He had asked we go for a walk out to the garden, then convinced me to use my semblance to let him get a better view. But then, he grabbed me and we were launched onto the landing pad..." She lies to him. With a hint of conflict in her voice. I'm hoping he buys it.

...

*sigh* "Then this is on you Jesse." He says looking to me now with a very serious expression.

"Yes sir." I say back to him in an almost militant fashion.

"Then you will be confined to your room for the next two weeks. During that time, you will only be let out, by Klein, for full days of unpaid work during those two weeks. And do not worry, you will be brought meals. When our cooks can make the extra time." He finishes, then turning his chair around to look at the portrait behind his desk and chair.

" _Great, no pay. I was hoping to go out into downtown Atlas to make a custom order for a weapon next month. Guess that'll have to wait a couple more months!_ " I think to myself in frustration.

"Klein!" He yells out.

"You can take them back to their quarters now." He says but a moment after the butler opens the door to Jacques office.

"At once , sir." Klein then ushers us out the door and escorts us back to our rooms.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

And now here I am. Sprawled across my floor, tired as a pack mule thats been run for twelve hours in a desert. Luckily It's the end of the work day. Unfortunately I can't continue my training until then...

" _Or can I? I could just do basic, pushups, situps, squats, and meditation for the time being..._ " After this thought I lay there for a few moments before I flip over onto my stomach and start doing pushups.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

I stop. "Yes?" I say to who ever's at the door. Klein opens it and walks in to set food on my table.

"Oh, Klein! Thank you, I was feeling a little bit peckish!" I say to him excitedly, jumping up off the ground and going over to the table. Until I'm stopped in my tracks by a conveiniently timed, loud growl from my stomach. He lets out a chuckle.

"Only a little?" He says. To which I redden slightly in face.

"I do hope you are doing alright? I know it's only been a couple of days, but I just want to be sure everythings alright." He seems fairly, genuinely concerned as he asks me this.

"Yeah, I am, no need to worry! Thanks though. What about Weiss? How's she been taking everything?" I say to him, trying to hide the worry on my face.

He pauses for a few moments before giving me a nod in response. I let out a slight sigh of relief. "You care for the mistress a great deal. It makes me glad to see she has such a good friend now." He says with a smile, and a kind of bitter sweet tone to his voice.

"Well. It's the least I can do for everything you've all done for me. And plus, despite what she says sometimes. She's a sweetheart." I say with a smile on my face, unable to look away from the ground in front of me.

"The young mistress has been doing well. She's been worried that her father might take more drastic measures, considering he doesn't like to be disobeyed. Especially by one who he is harboring out of 'good will'." Klein says to me with a somber tone.

"Yeah, well. Nothing I can really do about his judgement right now. So why worry about it? I got more important things to worry about anyway..." I say to him looking away from him to hide the upset expression I have.

We sit in silence for a few moments before Klein speaks up again to break the increasing silent tension.

"I suppose you are right. Try not to over work yourself , and good night. I must retire, myself." He gives a slight bow after saying this, he then begins heading out of my room.

"Thank you. You as well Klein, sir." I say to him before he finishes closing the door, this time, looking at him while I say it. He turns his head and gives me a gentle smile, after a moment or two he finishes closing the door.

After eating a good workout, a shower, and ect. It takes me only a few moments to fall asleep. And into one of the most restless sleeps I've had.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Cold... It feels cold... And dark...

*CRACK*

Lightning strikes off to my side and I surface the water, gasping desperately for air. I then hear my brother call to me.

"JESSE!" He yells from my right, I look over only to have the water crash over me and pull me under the surface. I resurface a few short moments later and my brother is nowhere to be found.

"EVAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!" I call out in a desperate panic.

*CRACK*

More lightning slams into the waters surface, and once again, I'm pulled under. But not by the waves.

"Why didn't you do more? You were useless... Dead weight..." My brother has me grabbed by the ankle, his face, sunken inward and charred along the left shoulder and the left side of his neck. As if burned. Or. Struck by lightning. I try letting out a scream, only for it to be muffled by the water around me, now out of breath, I inhale, I begin choking, I kick at the hand holding me here. His grip loosens and I begin to swim upwards, trying to get away, only to realize I've been dragged down impossibly far.

Something goes by my peripheral vision. I snap my head to the side to look at what lurks down here with me...

My eyes widen... Hundreds of bodies... Floating through the water, the boat we had been on, behind all the bodies. Sinking. I look back down to see that my brother was no longer the shambling body he was, but himself again, staring at me wide eyed, reaching out to me as he sinks, loosing the breath in his lungs. Despite choking and feeling myself slowly slip.

'I can't let him go again, I have to help him!' I think to myself as I swim down as fast as I possibly can.

I try. I swim. Seemingly forever as his eyes slowly close and the air leaves his body. I try to yell out to him, but the pain in my lungs is to much, I convulse and slowly start to turn upwards as my eyes lose their strength.

The water, feels... Warm... Comforting... Like I'm in someones embrace...

Then becomes quickly crushing as I sink, my eyes shooting open from the pain, then. Darkness.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"GAH! Hah...Hah...Hah..." I shoot up in bed, breathing heavily.

"Hah...Hah... What the hell..." I say aloud to myself.

"After all this time, why now? Why Am I suddenly having this shit now?!" I think to myself as I recall the dream I had just endured.

...

"It's never that easy, I guess..." After a few minutes of sitting in bed and catching my breath. I look over to the clock, which reads '6:46'.

*Sigh* "Guess I should get up now. I have to start work in a little over an hour anyways." I then get up and workout a little.

Afterward I head to the bathroom and turn on the shower, and the moment I do, I freeze in place. My eyes start widening as the sound of the water from the shower head running reminds me of the rain... The rain on the day where my entire life was thrown into a chaotic loop.

After a few moments my eyes slowly look to my arm that's still outstretched into the shower. I see my aura glowing and pulsing violently as each water drop hits my arm and is immediately dissolved against my aura.

I slowly pull my arm from the shower, looking down at it.

"When did I?... I don't remember..."

" _Did I activate my aura instictively?_ " After a thought, then saying it aloud to myself, I focus, deactivating my aura.

"...Maybe I'll skip a shower today... In fact. Maybe just avoiding water entirely, today, might be a better idea..." I say to myself as I turn off the shower and return to the bedroom, and get dressed for yet another day of work.

Which proved to be rather interesting and inconvenient all at once. After the first few hours of my shift went by, relatively well. I ended up very shaky at first, seemingly for no reason. Then when I tried to bring a water pitcher to the dinning table. I. Ended up seeing a flash of my brothers face. And I, dropped the pitcher and backed away from the mess in a cold sweat.

I was then, promptly brought to my room for the remainder of the evening for 'causing a disturbance'.

Now after being brought to my room and discarding my tie in anger, more at myself than anything, I sit on my bed gripping the hair on the sides of my head, while hunched forward.

"Damnit!" I yell out. "What the hell is wrong with me!?"

I sit in silence after that for a few minutes, the grip on my hair slowly relaxing.

"I still don't understand. Why now? After a month of almost nothing. Except the constant unease near large amounts of water... But... If it's getting worse, I can't let it continue. I can't let it interfere with my progress. I need to snuff this fear out before it gets too extreme. To an un-fixable point." I say, trying to convince myself that this isn't something that I can ignore anymore.

I walk into the bathroom and crank on the water in the sink, I watch it run and my hands start to shake slightly. I steel myself and go to stick my hands into the water and they stop an inch away from it. I try to force my hands into it, but there's some sort of mental block stopping me from doing it. I try again. I can't.

"Damnit!" I yell to myself as I start pacing around the bathroom, I put my hands on the back of my head and rest them there. I then start thinking about a bunch of random things, trying to distract myself. Then I quickly shift over to the sink in one swift movement and shove my hands down forcing them into the water. Which I managed to do after distracting my brain. I manage to keep them in the water for a few seconds before my mind starts sending all kinds of warning signals, telling me to pull them back. I force them to stay in the water for another few seconds before I take them out and quickly shut off the water.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Yes! Suck on my taint water! can't scare me anymore!... Well... Not as much." I say with a satisfied, yet stressed expression.

"Now for the hard part... A bath..."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Weiss' POV

" _I hope he's alright... Ever since Winter left, he's been acting stranger..._ " The heiress thinks to herself as she comes upon Jesse's room.

Once she arrives at the door, she goes to knock, only to hear Jesse's voice from within the room yell out in surprise.

"GAH! Damnit!" The rest is being spoken to quietly to hear. Weiss starts to get a little worried, she calls to him.

"Jesse?" She asks

"SHIT!" Jesse yells at the same time.

Weiss starts to feel the panic start to rise up in the back of her mind as she tries to call out again.

"Jesse, Are you ok?!" She calls out...

Silence...

Now the panic is increasing much faster. And after a moment or two of worried silence, she checks to see if the doors locked, and unfortunately for this circumstance, it is. She begins to summon up her semblance when she hears a lot of crashing and banging noises. Her semblance activates, summoning a glyph on the door handle that breaks the lock and forces the door open.

*SMASH* The door flings open and hits the wall on the inside of the room, Weiss takes a large and quick step forward into the doorway, and sees...

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Jesse's POV

I filled up the bathtub with water, and after stripping down and staring down at the water for a brief few seconds, I try pacing and distracting my brain again. It starts to work and I go to the side of the bathtub and sit on the side of the tub. I try sticking my feet in and my body jerks backwards and I end up back down, on the bathroom floor, I yell out from the pain.

"GAH! Damnit! ... Come on you little bitch. Just frickin do it already. It's just a little water..." I stand up and slap myself and stomp over to the bathtub and force myself to stand in the bathtub. I then begin to slide down as to get more of body in the tub.

"SHIT!" I start to feel the panic. As I finish sliding in so it's just my shoulders and up out of the water, I close my eyes and try to convince myself again.

"Come on Jesse... You've never let stupid stuff like this get to you before... Dad would always say, 'If life ever tries to knock you down, you don't let it walk all over you after it has. You get back up and kick life in the shin and tell it to piss off! Haha!' ... Well... Not the wisest words I've ever heard. But that was my dad after all. And his words have never failed me yet." After having this internal monologue and feeling some what calmed. In one swift movement before my brain has time to think about anything else, I plunge myself into the water fully.

I keep my eyes shut tight, my breath held. I then begin to feel my heart rate increase, gradually. Then much more quickly. My brain starts to freak, the panic starts to set in and make my lungs convulse slightly, screaming at me for air. After forcing myself through this situation for a few more second, I can't take the panic anymore and I shoot up out of the water and leap out of the bathtub, nearly hitting the sink after landing on my feet and stumbling forward.

I rush over to the door and pull it open as fast as I can, breathing heavily as I do. I stop in place as the door to the bedroom flies open and slams into the wall, my whole body tensing even more than before. I relax begin to relax as I notice Weiss at the door way.

"Weiss?" I say in the midst of my heavy breaths.

"Why is she staring?... And, why is she. Turning red?" I contemplate this moment to myself before realization starts to wash over me. I look down. I feel the heat start to flood to my face as I start to back into the bathroom.

"W-Weiss, I'm so-" I try to apologize as I cover my manhood and back into the bathroom, only for a glyph to appear in front of me and knock me backwards, off my feet. Then the door to the bathroom slams shut from another glyph being placed on it, and all I hear after that is.

"YOU DUMBASS!" She yells in an embarrassed and angered tone. I then hear the bedroom door slam shut.

...

"Well... That's not how I was expecting this to go..." I then begin to sit up.

"I mean seriously. What is this? An anime? Hah!... Whatever." I then sigh to myself, stand up and drain the tub, eventually retiring for the night.


End file.
